SEC Probes OpenAI for Potential Investor Misinformation After Altman's Turmoil

The Securities and Exchange Commission examines whether OpenAI misled its investors in an investigation prompted by CEO Sam Altman's provisional removal from the company last year.

Leadership Shakeup and Global Scrutiny: OpenAI's Tumultuous Year Amid Regulatory Eyes

The ChatGPT developer encountered significant upheaval in November of last year following the unforeseen termination of Altman, according to the Wall Street Journal. The board members stated that an internal investigation determined that Altman "did not consistently communicate candidly with the board," which led to his dismissal. Additionally, the board expressed its loss of faith in Altman's capability to sustain his leadership of the organization.

Co-founder of OpenAI Greg Brockman and Altman were both "shocked and saddened" by the board's actions, Brockman said shortly after that, adding that he, too, was leaving the organization.

Significant investors in the company reacted negatively to the decision to fire Altman, including Microsoft, which for a time employed both Altman and Brockman to spearhead its artificial intelligence initiatives. Ultimately, the two co-founders re-joined the organization following the appointment of a new board of directors led by Bret Taylor, a former co-CEO of Salesforce. Upon his return, Altman consented to an internal inquiry concerning his purported behavior.

The operations of OpenAI, specifically its association with Microsoft, have also been subject to examination by regulatory bodies worldwide. In December, the FTC initiated preliminary investigations regarding Microsoft's purported $13 billion investment in OpenAI, which comprised a $10 billion investment in 2023.

The announcement of the FTC's investigation came mere days after the Competitions and Markets Authority (CMA) of the United Kingdom declared its intention to scrutinize the transaction as well. The European Commission announced in January that it was also investigating the transaction, reportedly in response to the controversy surrounding Altman's dismissal and rehiring.

OpenAI and Figure AI Team Up to Revolutionize Humanoid Robots with Chat

A collaboration agreement has been established between the creator of ChatGPT and Figure AI to "develop next-generation AI models" for the machines, which the company claims can be "useful in daily life."

Figure AI stated in a press release obtained by Business Insider that the agreement sought to "accelerate Figure's commercial timeline" by utilizing OpenAI's research and large multimodal models to expand its robots' "processing and reasoning from language" capabilities.

The figure, supported by Microsoft, NVIDIA, and Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, also disclosed that it had secured Series B funding amounting to $675 million, a sum the company estimated to be worth $2.6 billion.

With a $23.5 million funding round in robotics startup 1X Technologies last year, OpenAI has openly expressed its conviction that robots will fundamentally alter the future of work.

Brad Lightcap, chief operating officer of OpenAI, expressed confidence in the "approach and impact" that 1X might have on the future of work during that period.

On Thursday, Peter Welinder, vice president of products and partnerships at OpenAI, stated in a press release issued by Figure AI: "We've always planned to come back to robotics and we see a path with Figure to explore what humanoid robots can achieve when powered by highly capable multimodal models."

"We're blown away by Figure's progress to date and we look forward to working together to open up new possibilities for how robots can help in everyday life," he added.

According to Figure AI, "manufacturing, logistics, warehousing, and retail," among other areas, may help compensate for labor shortages.

Photo: Y Combinator/YouTube Screenshot