Who is Emmet Shear, the new CEO of OpenAI?
The Microsoft-backed artificial intelligence (AI) company's board of directors had a major leadership shakeup over the weekend after it abruptly ousted former CEO and co-founder Sam Altman on Nov. 17.
In the days that followed, the board was pressured to bring Altman back as CEO, with Chief Technology Officer Mira Murthy appointed as the company's interim CEO.
However, on November 20, three days after Altman's departure, OpenAI announced its new CEO, Emmett Shear. Shear is the co-founder and former CEO of Amazon-owned video streaming platform Twitch.
Shortly after the announcement, Shear took to X (formerly Twitter) and confirmed his acceptance of the new role, providing the company with a lengthy post about his future plans. He said he stepped down from Twitch because of being a father and that he didn't take the decision lightly when approached by the OpenAI board.
Today I got a call inviting me to look at a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: to be the interim CEO of @OpenAI . After consulting with my family and meditating for a few hours, I accepted. I recently resigned as CEO of Twitch due to my own birth.
— Emmett Shear (@eshear) November 20, 2023
He said the process surrounding Altman's “removal” was “very badly done and it seriously damaged trust.”
According to the new CEO, he plans to hire a private investigator in the next 30 days to investigate the circumstances leading up to the hiring, talk to the remaining employees, and conduct leadership and management reforms.
“The stability and success of OpenAI are too important for turbulence to disrupt them like this,” he said. “Although in many cases I believe it may take more than a month to make real progress, I will try to address the major issues.”
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He also explored the “reasons” behind the change before taking on the role, saying:
“The board didn't remove Sam* because of any specific disagreement over security, their reasons were completely different.”
Shear served as a part-time partner at venture capital firm Y Combinator and holds a Bachelor of Science in Computer Science from Yale University.
Since his appointment as CEO, pictures of the two executives in the Y Combinator class have started circulating on social media.
A photo of Emmet Shear (red) and Sam Altman (yellow) from when they were together in the first 2005 Y Combinator class. pic.twitter.com/x2lI64e6sU
— John Coogan (@johncoogan) November 20, 2023
Earlier in 2023, Shear appeared on a podcast where he said advanced AI is “really a very dangerous thing because intelligence is power.”
Hours before naming OpenAI's new CEO, OpenAI backer Big Tech giant Microsoft announced that it would hire both Altman and former board member and president Greg Brockman.
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