John Schulman, the co-founder of OpenAI, has announced that he is departing the company in order to concentrate more closely on AI alignment and “hands-on technical work” at competitor Anthropic.
OpenAI’s co-founder, John Schulman, has departed the artificial intelligence startup he co-founded in 2015 to join a competitor AI firm, Anthropic. This leaves the company with only three original co-founders remaining.
OpenAI’s product manager Peter Deng also silently departed the company some time ago, in addition to Schulman’s departure. The Information reported on August 5 that president Greg Brockman is taking an extended leave of absence.
In a post on Aug. 6 to X, Schulman disclosed his departure from OpenAI after nearly nine years of employment. He stated that he had made the “difficult decision” to relocate to Anthropic in order to concentrate on “AI alignment” and pursue more “hands-on technical” work.
Schulman stated on X, “I have resolved to pursue this objective at Anthropic, where I am confident that I can acquire novel perspectives and conduct research in collaboration with individuals who are profoundly fascinated by the subjects that interest me.”
Schulman clarified that he was not departing the company due to a lack of personal or professional support, despite the chaotic controversy surrounding OpenAI’s approach to AI safety, research, and regulation.
“I am not departing OpenAI because of an absence of support for alignment research.” On the contrary, Schulman stated that company leaders have been highly dedicated to investing in this sector.
“My decision is a personal one, and it is dependent upon my intentions for the following phase of my career.”
Dario Amodei, the former vice president of research at OpenAI, and his sister Daniela Amodei, who was also an early employee at the company, established Anthropic in 2021. Anthropic is a formidable competitor of OpenAI.
Only three of the eleven original founders of the company remain at the company following Schulman’s departure. They consist of Wojciech Zaremba, the language director of the firm, president Greg Brockman, and OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Schulman was instrumental in the development of the AI-powered chatbot ChatGPT at the firm, where he served as the head of OpenAI’s reinforcement training organization. This organization is responsible for the training of generative AI models to adhere to human instructions.
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