Benzinga - by Ananya Gairola, Benzinga Staff Writer.
OpenAI‘s chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, who announced departure from his post on Wednesday, might now be heading to Elon Musk’s xAI, according to Deepwater Asset Management‘s managing partner, Gene Munster.
What Happened: Munster took to X, formerly Twitter, and suggested that Sutskever’s departure from OpenAI could lead him to Musk’s xAI. He pointed out that Sutskever had already planned his next move and expressed excitement about a project that is personally significant to him.
“My sense is the writing was on the wall since Nov-23 when Ilya regrettably recommended the board remove Sam Altman. Despite that misstep, he is still one of the world’s greatest AI talents,” Munster stated.
He added, “My sense is there’s a 60% chance he ends up at xAI. Elon’s determined to advance Grok, his ‘truth seeking’ foundation model, and needs world-class talent. The question is; is building a truth-seeking model ‘personally meaningful’ to Ilya? I don't know the answer,” Munster wrote.
Ilya Sutskever to xAI?OpenAI's Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever is leaving the company. My sense is the writing was on the wall since Nov-23 when Ilya regrettably recommended the board remove Sam Altman. Despite that misstep, he is still one of the world's greatest AI talents.…
— Gene Munster (@munster_gene) May 15, 2024
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also reacted to Sutskever leaving the company saying that it’s “very sad.” On the other hand, Musk replied to a meme video making fun of Altman’s mixed feelings about Sutskever’s departure, showing that he doesn’t believe that the OpenAI CEO is sad.