Sam Altman Out As OpenAI鈥檚 CEO

co-founder and AI wunderkind is out as the company鈥檚 CEO.

In what can only be described as a Friday afternoon news dump, the generative AI firm named , the company鈥檚 chief technology officer, as its interim CEO effective immediately.

, the company said Altman鈥檚 departure comes after 鈥渁 deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid 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.鈥�

The company also announced will be stepping down as chairman of the board, but will remain with the company.

Big dollars and big ideas

OpenAI, the startup behind the artificial intelligence tools and , made waves back in January when confirmed it has agreed to a 鈥渕ultiyear, multibillion-dollar investment鈥� into the company. It is believed the Redmond, Washington-based tech giant invested as much as $10 billion in the deal.

Then in April, OpenAI held a $300 million tender offer with the likes of and at a valuation of around $29 billion.

Finally, just last month, a said will lead a deal to buy the OpenAI shares at a price that will value the artificial intelligence giant at at least $80 billion.

As the company鈥檚 profile and valuation have both risen, so has Altman, who now is the face of AI to many.

Earlier this year he appeared before Congress to discuss AI regulation, and just last week served as emcee of OpenAI鈥檚 first developer conference in San Francisco.

Altman, who formerly headed startup accelerator , also is an active investor, especially in AI-related startups. He has invested in companies such as聽 and .

He also has a significant number of investments through a variety of firms including , and .

Altman is a co-founder of 鈥� which backs the somewhat controversial crypto project . The project鈥檚 World ID platform is attempting to create unique digital identities 鈥� based on blockchain technology 鈥� for people by scanning their eyes with a small orb. The idea has led to many questions surrounding AI, data and privacy.