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OpenAI Appoints Ex-Twitch Boss as Interim CEO; Altman Joins Microsoft 

The OpenAI logo is seen in this illustration taken, February 3, 2023. (Reuters)
The OpenAI logo is seen in this illustration taken, February 3, 2023. (Reuters)
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OpenAI Appoints Ex-Twitch Boss as Interim CEO; Altman Joins Microsoft 

The OpenAI logo is seen in this illustration taken, February 3, 2023. (Reuters)
The OpenAI logo is seen in this illustration taken, February 3, 2023. (Reuters)

OpenAI has appointed ex-Twitch boss Emmett Shear to lead the startup, replacing Sam Altman who will join the company's top backer Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team, the CEO of the software giant said late on Sunday.

"We look forward to getting to know Emmett Shear and OAI's new leadership team and working with them," Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella posted on social media platform X. He added Microsoft remains committed to its partnership with OpenAI.

Shear was named interim CEO, a person briefed on the appointment told Reuters.

The decision not to reinstate Altman as CEO of the company behind ChatGPT has confounded efforts by investors and employees of the firm to steady the ship by bringing him back after the board fired him on Friday, a surprise move that rocked the tech world.

They fear his abrupt sacking could lead to a mass exodus of talent and impact an upcoming $86 billion share sale.

Nadella said Altman would join Microsoft to "lead a new advanced AI research team".

Reuters earlier reported that Altman was discussing a possible return to OpenAI and changing the company's governance structure, even as he considered launching a new AI venture.

Altman and Greg Brockman, who stepped down from the OpenAI board as chairman as part of the management shuffle, joined executives at the company's headquarters on Sunday after then interim CEO Mira Murati told staff she invited Altman, The Information earlier reported on Sunday.

Nadella said Brockman would also join the software company.

Altman posted an image of himself on X on Sunday wearing an OpenAI guest badge with the caption: "first and last time i ever wear one of these." In a separate post on X, he reshared Nadella's message with a comment "the mission continues".

Shear co-founded Twitch and had stepped down from the Amazon.com-owned live video streaming platform earlier this year.

Brockman quit over Altman's firing on Friday. Their departures blindsided many employees who discovered the abrupt management change from an internal message and the company's public blog.

Some researchers including Szymon Sidor have also left the company following the CEO change, two people familiar with the matter said. Sidor confirmed quitting.

The Information first reported the appointment of Shear as interim CEO.

Shortly after the internal announcement of Shear's appointment, distraught employees "streamed out" of OpenAI headquarters in San Francisco, The Information reported.

Dozens of staffers internally announced they were quitting the company on Sunday night, it said, citing a person with knowledge of the situation.

OpenAI kicked off the generative AI craze a year ago by releasing ChatGPT. The chatbot became one of the world's fastest-growing software applications.

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Technology

US Defends Law Forcing Sale of TikTok App

This photograph taken in Mulhouse, eastern France on October 19, 2023, shows the logo of the social media video sharing app TikTok reflected in mirrors. (AFP)
This photograph taken in Mulhouse, eastern France on October 19, 2023, shows the logo of the social media video sharing app TikTok reflected in mirrors. (AFP)
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US Defends Law Forcing Sale of TikTok App

This photograph taken in Mulhouse, eastern France on October 19, 2023, shows the logo of the social media video sharing app TikTok reflected in mirrors. (AFP)
This photograph taken in Mulhouse, eastern France on October 19, 2023, shows the logo of the social media video sharing app TikTok reflected in mirrors. (AFP)

The Justice Department late Friday filed its response to TikTok's civil suit aimed at derailing a law that would force the app to be sold or face a US ban.

TikTok's suit in a Washington federal court argues that the law violates First Amendment rights of free speech.

The US response counters that the law addresses national security concerns, not speech, and that TikTok's Chinese parent company ByteDance is not able to claim First Amendment rights here.

The filing details concerns that ByteDance could, and would, comply with Chinese government demands for data about US users or yield to pressure to censor or promote content on the platform, senior justice department officials said in a briefing.

"The goal of this law is to ensure that young people, old people and everyone in between is able to use the platform in a safe manner," a senior justice department official said.

"And to use it in a way confident that their data is not ultimately going back to the Chinese government and what they're watching is not being directed by or censored by the Chinese government."

The response argues that the law's focus on foreign ownership of TikTok takes it out of the realm of the First Amendment.

US intelligence agencies are concerned that China can "weaponize" mobile apps, justice department officials said.

"It's clear that the Chinese government has for years been pursuing large, structured datasets of Americans through all sorts of manner, including malicious cyber activity; including efforts to buy that data from data brokers and others, and including efforts to build sophisticated AI models that can utilize that data," a senior justice department official said.

TikTok has said the demanded divestiture is "simply not possible" -- and not on the timeline required.

The bill signed by President Joe Biden early this year set a mid-January 2025 deadline for TikTok to find a non-Chinese buyer or face a US ban.

The White House can extend the deadline by 90 days.

"For the first time in history, Congress has enacted a law that subjects a single, named speech platform to a permanent, nationwide ban, and bars every American from participating in a unique online community with more than one billion people worldwide," said the suit by TikTok and ByteDance.

- TikTok shutdown? -

ByteDance has said it has no plans to sell TikTok, leaving the lawsuit, which will likely go to the US Supreme Court, as its only option to avoid a ban.

"There is no question: the Act will force a shutdown of TikTok by January 19, 2025," the lawsuit said, "silencing (those) who use the platform to communicate in ways that cannot be replicated elsewhere."

TikTok first found itself in the crosshairs of former president Donald Trump's administration, which tried unsuccessfully to ban it.

That effort got bogged down in the courts when a federal judge temporarily blocked Trump's attempt, saying the reasons for banning the app were likely overstated and that free speech rights were in jeopardy.

The new effort signed by Biden was designed to overcome the same legal headaches, and some experts believe the US Supreme Court could be open to allowing national security considerations to outweigh free speech protection.

"We view the statute as a game changer from the arguments that were in play back in 2020," a senior justice department official said.

There are serious doubts that any buyer could emerge to purchase TikTok even if ByteDance would agree to the request.

Big tech's usual suspects, such as Facebook parent Meta or YouTube's Google, will likely be barred from snapping up TikTok over antitrust concerns, and others could not afford one of the world's most successful apps used by about 170 million people in the United States alone.