OpenAI Cofounder John Schulman Joins Rival Anthropic

In a shocking move, OpenAI co-founder John Schulman has announced his exit from the company. He is planning to join their direct rival, Anthropic.

As John Schulman joins rival Anthropic, we must consider that this is not the first time the core members of OpenAI have left the company.

Schulman shared the news on X on August 6, 2024, stating that he is leaving OpenAI to deepen his focus on AI alignment.

John Schulman joins rival Anthropic

Many of OpenAI’s core members have previously left the company to work on personal projects. Similarly, Schulman’s decision is personal.

In his post, John mentioned that he wants to gain new perspectives on the most interesting topics. He wrote:

“To be clear, I’m not leaving due to lack of support for alignment research at OpenAI. On the contrary, company leaders have been very committed to investing in this area. My decision is a personal one, based on how I want to focus my efforts in the next phase of my career.”

In his post, Schulman thanked OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, President Greg Brockman, CTO Mira Murati, and VP of Research Bob McGrew.

Altman wrote about Schulman’s departure and mentioned that he had made the company a better and more proud place.

John isn’t the only one leaving OpenAI

Two other OpenAI members are leaving the company along with John. President Brockman also announced on X that he is going on sabbatical through the end of the year.

Similarly, OpenAI’s VP of consumer products, Peter Deng, has also left the company, according to reports.

John Schulman Joins Rival Anthropic. Image Credit: X (formerly Twitter).

In May 2024, former OpenAI executive Jan Leike and former OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever left the company. Two months later, news surfaced that OpenAI spent $8.5 billion on AI training and is on its way to losing $5 billion.

So, where will OpenAI head in the coming future? As John Schulman joins rival Anthropic, we hope all the best for this future endeavors.