Madrona's Matt McIlwain talks Sam Altman's departure as OpenAI CEO

IN HIS COMMUNICATIONS WITH THE BOARD, HINDERING ITS ABILITY TO EXERCISE ITS RESPONSIBILITIES. THE BOARD NO LONGER HAS CONFIDENCE IN HIS ABILITY TO CONTINUE LEADING OPENAI. MICROSOFT SHARES FALLING WHEN THAT NEWS CROSSED ABOUT AN HOUR AGO. IT ENDED DOWN LESS THAN 2% JOINING US NOW IS MATT McELcELW. HOW BIG A DEAL IS LOSING SAM ALTMAN AT OPENAI >> THIS IS BREAKING NEWS, OF COURSE, THERE’S A LOT TO DIGEST. I THINK IT’S A BIG DEAL. YOU KNOW, HE IS A CO-FOUNDER THE VISIONARY BEHIND OPENAI IN MANY RESPECTS. YOU HAVE TO DISAGGREGATE, IS THIS A PERSONAL ISSUE? IS

THIS A CORPORATE AS IN OPENAI ISSUE OR WAS THERE SOMETHING GOING ON IN THE BROADER STRATEGIC LANDSCAPE AS TO WHY THIS HAPPENED? YOU JUST HAD THAT QUOTE FROM THE BOARD. I THINK THE OTHER THING THAT’S NOTABLE HERE IS, YOU KNOW, MIRA, A VERY TALENTED PERSON, CPO, BUT WHY NOT GREG BROCKMAN? GREG IS THE PRESIDENT. IF YOU NOTE, THE OTHER DETAIL IN THERE IS THAT GREG LOST HIS ROLE AS CHAIR OF THE BOARD. THAT SUGGESTS TO ME THAT AT A MINIMUM, THIS IS A CORPORATE-LEVEL ISSUE OF CORPORATE INTRIGUE GOING ON AT OPENAI >> OR COULD IT

BE THAT HE WILL BE CONSIDERED, SO BEING CHAIRMAN WOULDN’T BE APPROPRIATE IF THE BOARD IS GOING TO BE CONSIDERING HIM. ON MIRA, BRILLIANT YOUNG ENGINEER IN HER MID

30s, HAS BEEN AT OPENAI FOR FIVE YEARS. IT SEEMS TO ME LIKE MAYBE THERE’S NOT AS MUCH CONTINUITY OR OPERATIONAL CONCERN BECAUSE YOU DO HAVE EXPERIENCED LEADERSHIP IN PLACE BESIDES ALTMAN HIMSELF BUT MY EXPERIENCE ON BOARDS, IF YOU HAVE A PRESIDENT AND CO-FOUNDER ON THE BOARD AND YOU REMOVE THEM FROM THAT ROLE AND YOU DON’T MAKE THEM CEO WHEN YOU LET GO OF YOUR CO-FOUNDER AND CEO, THAT

SUGGESTS MORE IS GOING ON I DON’T HAVE INSIDE KNOWLEDGE OF WHAT THAT IS BUT FROM HAVING BEEN ON MANY BOARDS OVER MANY YEARS, THAT COMBINATION OF DATA THAT WE ALREADY HAVE IS INTRIGUING TO SAY THE LEAST AT A CORPORATE LEVEL. MAYBE WHATEVER THINGS THAT SAM WAS NOT BEING TRANSPARENT WITH HIS BOARD ABOUT, MAYBE GREG HAD SOME KNOWLEDGE OF. SO THERE WAS SOME ISSUE AROUND, YOU KNOW, TRANSPARENCY EVEN IF IT WAS A SAM-SPECIFIC ISSUE. IT IS VERY NOTABLE THAT THEY MADE MIRA THE INTERIM CEO. >> WHAT DO WE NEED TO HEAR FROM OPENAI, FROM THE BOARD

WHILE THEY FIGURE THIS LEADERSHIP PIECE OUT TO PERHAPS GIVE THE ECOSYSTEM CONFIDENCE THAT THEY SHOULD CONTINUE TO STRATEGICALLY RELY ON THE SOFTWARE THAT OPENAI IS PUTTING OUT >> I THINK THAT WHAT WE NEED TO HEAR IS THAT THEY ARE CONFIDENT IN THEIR CORE BUSINESS AND CORE STRATEGY, NOTWITHSTANDING THIS LEADERSHIP CHANGE. I THINK WHAT WILL BE INTERESTING TO SEE IS WHAT WE HEAR FROM OTHER PEOPLE SO, WHAT WILL MICROSOFT, WHO IS NEARLY A 50% OWNER OF OPENAI, WHAT WILL THEY HAVE TO SAY YOU HAVE A WHOLE SERIES OF OTHER EVENTS SATYA SPOKE AT LENGTH ABOUT OPENAI

THIS WEEK WE WILL NEED TO HEAR FROM OPENAI AS TO NOT ONLY A STRATEGY PERSPECTIVE FROM THEM BUT MICROSOFT, FIRST AND FOREMOST, THEIR MOST IMPORTANT PARTNER AND IT WILL BE INTERESTING TO HEAR FROM OTHERS, LIKE AMAZON WHO IS A WEEK AWAY FROM AMAZON REINVENT, GOOGLE AND POSSIBLY NVIDIA >> DOES THIS POTENTIALLY GIVE MICROSOFT MORE LEVERAGE WHEN IT COMES TO OPENAI? RIGHT NOW THE COMPANY IS TRADING NEAR ALL-TIME HIGHS. SATYA NADELLA IS COMING UP ON TEN YEARS WHEN HE WAS NAMED AS CEO. IT HAS DONE SOME IMPRESSIVE THINGS IN CLOUD LEADING UP TO THAT POINT OF

FIGHTING FOR THE FUTURE OF AI ARGUABLY THEY WANT MORE LEVERAGE AND A LARGER STAKE THAN THEY GOT. DOES THIS DRIVE OPENAI PERHAPS MORE INTO THE ARMS OF MICROSOFT? >> I DON’T THINK THEY WANT TO BE A MAJORITY OWNER THAT’S MY ESTIMATION FROM A LEVERAGE POINT, I THINK YOU’RE RIGHT THIS DOES GIVE MICROSOFT MORE LEVERAGE KEEP IN MIND, MICROSOFT IS, YOU KNOW, ON A PATH IN THE NEXT COUPLE OF YEARS TO GENERATE TE S TENS OF BILLIONS OF INCREMENTAL DOLLARS ON AZURE SO I THINK THE LEVERAGE WILL BE LESS FROM OWNERSHIP TO MORE OF, HEY, WE

CANNOT SCREW THIS UP WE ARE PARTNERS TOGETHER EVEN THOUGH MICROSOFT HAS BEEN EXPANDING THE APERTURE OF THE MODELS, US