SAN FRANCISCO (Diya TV) —
John Schulman, one of OpenAI’s co-founders, has left the company to join Anthropic, a rival AI firm. Schulman, who played a crucial role in developing OpenAI’s ChatGPT, announced his departure on Tuesday. He expressed his desire to focus on AI alignment and hands-on technical work at Anthropic, which was founded by former OpenAI employees Dario and Daniela Amodei.
Schulman’s exit is part of a broader shakeup at OpenAI, which also includes the departure of product manager Peter Deng and the extended leave of absence taken by President Greg Brockman. Brockman, who co-founded OpenAI alongside Schulman and others, announced he would be on sabbatical until the end of the year to take a much-needed break after nine years at the company.
Despite the internal changes, Schulman emphasized that his decision was not due to a lack of support at OpenAI but rather a personal choice to pursue his interests in a new environment.
“I’ve decided to pursue this goal at Anthropic, where I believe I can gain new perspectives and do research alongside people deeply engaged with the topics I’m most interested in,” Schulman said. “I am confident that OpenAI and the teams I was part of will continue to thrive without me.”
The departures come amidst a turbulent period for OpenAI, including a recent lawsuit filed by Elon Musk against the company and CEO Sam Altman. Musk, a co-founder of OpenAI, alleges that Altman misled him regarding the company’s nonprofit status.
As OpenAI navigates these changes, only two of the original eleven co-founders remain active in the company: CEO Sam Altman and language head Wojciech Zaremba.
