Altman’s Spin Versus Reality

Talk about staying above the fray. Even as the latest rash of senior executive departures from OpenAI sparks a fresh round of questions about the company’s management, CEO Sam Altman was in Turin, Italy, appearing at an event to do what he does best: talk about the future.

In an onstage interview, Altman did address the latest departures at OpenAI—according to a transcript provided by OpenAI—but only to pooh-pooh the idea that Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati and others quit because of a looming restructuring of OpenAI into a for-profit company. As Altman pointed out, OpenAI has been discussing that for almost a year. (The Information first reported that the idea was under consideration in May.)