Who is Emmett Shear, Sam Altman’s replacement at the head of OpenAI, the ChatGPT company

The surprising and sudden dismissal of Sam Altman has left a void in front of OpenAI. In his place, the board of directors has chosen the entrepreneur and investor Emmett Shear as the new interim CEO of the creator of ChatGPT. Who is it about? What will you do with the company?

Shear is known for founding the live video platform Twitchespecially popular in the world of video game. In 2011, he created this page together with two other young investors, Michael Seibel and Kyle Vogt, and three years later he sold it to Amazon for $970 million. Shear assumed leadership of the company as CEO—a position he held until last March—and oversaw its meteoric rise to a global phenomenon.

Interestingly, in 2011 Shear became a partner in Y Combinatorthe startup accelerator that promoted Airbnb or Reddit, among others, and that Altman chaired between 2014 and 2019.

What will you do with OpenAI?

Shear now assumes the leadership of one of the leading companies in the emerging technology sector. artificial intelligence (AI). In a message on “The stability and success of OpenAI is too important to allow turbulence to disrupt it in this way,” she noted.

Related news

The new CEO also wants to reform “the management and leadership team (…) into an effective force to drive results for our clients.” “I will drive changes in the organization, including pushing hard for significant governance changes if necessary,” he added.

Shear has publicly supported a “slowdown” of AI to ensure it is safe and believes there is a 5% to 50% chance it will become an existential risk to humanity. Thus, his position aligns with a ‘doomer’ vision contrary to Altman’s theses, more favorable to taking advantage of the success of ChatGPT to promote the launch of products based on that technology.