OpenAI CEO Sam Altman named Time’s ‘CEO of the Year’ 2023

Despite the chaotic past month at OpenAI, Sam Altman has been named the “CEO of the Year” in 2023 by Time magazine. Altman has been awarded for his contributions to the tech industry. It pointed out that ChatGPT gathered over 1 million users within 5 days of being launched in November 2022. It currently has 100 million users, a benchmark that Facebook reached in 4.5 years.

It is revealed that OpenAI reported a revenue of $28 million back in 2022 but it jumped to $100 million a month in 2023. And while many tech companies were handing pink slips to its employees, OpenAI went on a hiring spree. After the massive success of ChatGPT, the company launched GPT-4 in March this year. This updated version was far more capable than its predecessor, as it could analyse images, and write reliable codes in several major programming languages. Talking about this chapter of success in his career, Altman told Time, “We definitely accelerated the race, for lack of a more nuanced phrase.”

While navigating through hearings at the US Senate on artificial intelligence, Altman also went on a world tour to places including India, Israel, Japan, South Korea and so on. Several government officials also realised and underscored the need for an AI policy.

According to Time Magazine, OpenAI board members were getting concerned about Altman’s behaviour as he “had a tendency to play different people off one another in order to get his desired outcome”. It also revealed that Altman made sure that all information flowed through him. On November 17, the board ousted Altman from the company, stating that he was ‘not candid enough with his communications with the board members’.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella took Altman in right after this incident. The removal of Altman was met with backlash from the employees of the company. They even threatened to quit if the board didn’t resign. After 5 days of drama, Altman was re-hired as the CEO of the company with fresh faces on the board.

Altman then posted, “The best interests of the company and the mission always come first. It is clear that there were real misunderstandings between me and members of the board. I welcome the board’s independent review of all recent events.”

Notably, Time Magazine also announced Taylor Swift as ‘Person of the Year’ and Lionel Messi as ‘Athlete of the Year’.

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