Former research director Ilya Sutskever owns about $7 billion worth of OpenAI shares

Court testimony of former OpenAI research director

This week Ilya Sutskever, one of the company’s founders and its former research director, gave testimony in court. He spoke about his role in Sam Altman’s resignation and the circumstances that led to that decision.

Key facts
What happened When Who was involved Termination of Sam Altman as CEO November 2023 OpenAI Board of Directors Interim leadership of the company A few days after the dismissal Mira Murati (former CTO) Preparation for Altman’s resignation One year before the testimony Ilya Sutskever, board member

What Sutskever said
1. Evidence of “insincerity”

- Over the course of a year he collected material on false statements and manipulations by Altman that he was supposed to present to the board.

- According to him, Altman constantly misled his colleagues.

2. Internal company politics

- Sutskever claims that Altman pitted leaders against each other and destroyed working relationships within the team.

- These issues were discussed with Mira Murati for an extended period, and it was through this that the idea of his resignation emerged.

3. Reconsideration of the decision

- After Altman left, Sutskever worried about OpenAI’s future and voted to restore Altman as CEO.

4. Financial information

- At the time of Altman’s resignation (November 2023) Sutskever’s stock was worth about $5 million, and by current estimates roughly $7 million.

- At the same time Greg Brockman owned shares worth approximately $30 million.

Additional details
- After Altman’s resignation, negotiations were underway in the fall to merge OpenAI with competing startup Anthropic. Sutskever expressed dissatisfaction with this initiative.

- Microsoft proposed creating a specialized division within its corporation, but that idea was also not adopted.

Thus, Sutskever’s testimony sheds light on internal conflicts and decisions that shaped OpenAI’s current state.