OpenAI Co-founder John Schulman Leaves ChatGPT Maker for Rival Anthropic

The OpenAI logo is seen in this illustration taken May 20, 2024. (Reuters)
The OpenAI logo is seen in this illustration taken May 20, 2024. (Reuters)
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OpenAI Co-founder John Schulman Leaves ChatGPT Maker for Rival Anthropic

The OpenAI logo is seen in this illustration taken May 20, 2024. (Reuters)
The OpenAI logo is seen in this illustration taken May 20, 2024. (Reuters)

John Schulman, one of the co-founders of artificial intelligence company OpenAI, has left the ChatGPT maker for rival Anthropic, he said in a post on social media platform X late Monday.

"This choice stems from my desire to deepen my focus on AI alignment, and to start a new chapter of my career where I can return to hands-on technical work," Schulman said in his X post.

OpenAI's President and co-founder Greg Brockman is also taking a sabbatical through the end of the year, he said in a X post late Monday.

The news was first reported by The Information, which added that Peter Deng, a product manager who joined OpenAI last year, has also exited the company.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.

The move comes as OpenAI faces significant personnel changes, with the company's AI safety leader Aleksander Madry being reassigned to another role in July.

Another one of OpenAI's co-founders and chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever, left the company in May. Andrej Karpathy, who was also one of the AI firm's founding members left OpenAI in February and started an AI-integrated education platform in July.

Tesla CEO Elon Musk, who was also one of the co-founders of OpenAI and left three years later, revived his lawsuit against the company and CEO Sam Altman on Monday, saying that the firm put profits and commercial interests ahead of public good.



As Instagram Remains Blocked in Türkiye, Erdogan Accuses Social Media Companies of ‘Digital Fascism’

A woman holds a phone showing the Instagram logo, in Istanbul, Türkiye, 03 August 2024. (EPA)
A woman holds a phone showing the Instagram logo, in Istanbul, Türkiye, 03 August 2024. (EPA)
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As Instagram Remains Blocked in Türkiye, Erdogan Accuses Social Media Companies of ‘Digital Fascism’

A woman holds a phone showing the Instagram logo, in Istanbul, Türkiye, 03 August 2024. (EPA)
A woman holds a phone showing the Instagram logo, in Istanbul, Türkiye, 03 August 2024. (EPA)

Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan accused social media platforms of “digital fascism” on Monday for allegedly censoring photographs of Palestinian “martyrs.”

The Turkish leader’s comments came as Turkish officials were engaged in discussions with representatives of the social media platform, Instagram, to reinstate access to millions of its users in Türkiye.

The Information and Communication Technologies Authority barred access to Instagram on Aug.2 without providing a reason. Government officials said the ban was imposed because Instagram failed to abide by Turkish regulations.

Several media reports said however, that the action was in response to Instagram removing posts by Turkish users that expressed condolences over the killing of Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh. It was the latest instance of a clampdown on websites in the country which has a track record of censoring social media and other online platforms.

“They cannot even tolerate photographs of Palestinian martyrs and immediately ban them,” Erdogan said at a human rights event. “We are confronted with a digital fascism that is disguised as freedom."

Unlike its Western allies, Türkiye does not consider Hamas a terror organization. A strong critic of Israel’s military actions in Gaza, Erdogan has described the group as a liberation movement

Erdogan went on to state that social media websites were allegedly allowing all kinds of propaganda by groups considered terrorists in Türkiye.

“We have tried to establish a line of dialogue through our relevant institutions. However, we have not yet been able to achieve the desired cooperation,” Erdogan said.

The transportation and infrastructure minister, Abdulkadir Uraloglu, said Turkish authorities had met with representatives of the Meta-owned company last week and were holding a fresh round of talks on Monday.

Instagram has more than 57 million users in Türkiye, a nation of 85 million people, according to the We Are Social media company.

The Electronic Commerce Operators’ Association estimates that Instagram and other social media platforms per day generate about 930 million Turkish lira ($27 million) worth of e-commerce.