Shocking: Andrej Karpathy leaves OpenAI

Andrej Karpathy, a founding member of OpenAI, has departed the company, confirmed by a spokesperson, reporting to the Information. 

Karpathy was actively involved in developing an AI assistant, collaborating closely with the company’s research head, Bob McGrew. While ChatGPT has gained popularity among users, OpenAI aims to release software capable of automating intricate computer-based tasks such as handling expense reports, as reported by The Information recently.

Karpathy has confirmed his departure from OpenAI in a post on X saying that it is not because of any other reason apart from his plan to work on personal projects.

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Karpathy returned to OpenAI last year after a five-year stint at Tesla, where he supervised the development of its Autopilot semi-automated driving software. His exit from OpenAI coincides closely with his return announcement made approximately a year ago on X.

OpenAI spokesperson Kayla Wood stated, “Andrej is departing to pursue personal projects. We are deeply grateful for his contributions and wish him the best. His responsibilities have transitioned to a senior researcher who worked closely alongside Andrej.”

Karpathy’s departure marks a notable exit from OpenAI since the resignations of several senior staff members following CEO Sam Altman’s removal by the board of OpenAI’s nonprofit parent organisation. These staff members later rejoined the company following the board’s reversal of its decision. Despite the organisational upheavals, OpenAI has sustained its business growth.

While the OpenAI drama was unfolding, Andrej Karpathy’s reaction to the whole situation was noteworthy, he was busy thinking about centralised and decentralised. Most recently, he even released a one-hour-long YouTube video tutorial on LLM.

Speculatively, it might be possible that Karpathy joins Elon Musk at Tesla or xAI, or start working on his love for open source AI, and start educating people.