Two Months, a Hundred Million Users
At ChatGPT’s launch, OpenAI internally had no full expectation of the attention it might draw, the team even for a time worried it was only a "low-key research preview." The result was that its users broke a hundred million within two months of launch, then the fastest-growing consumer application in history, and "generative AI," a concept previously confined to academic and industry circles, truly entered the daily life and public discussion of the mass public for the first time.
Five Days, a CEO Removed and Reinstated
In November 2023 the OpenAI board suddenly announced Altman’s removal as CEO, the publicly stated reason vague, saying only that he "was not consistently candid in his communications with the board." This decision shook the whole tech industry, co-founder Greg Brockman resigning in protest, Microsoft saying it would welcome Altman and team members, and over ninety percent of OpenAI’s employees co-signing a threat of collective resignation and demanding the board resign and reinstate Altman. Five days later, under enormous pressure, the board at last compromised, Altman was reinstated, and the board was greatly reshuffled, this governance crisis later widely seen as a classic case for examining the internal divergence of the AI industry between commercialization and safety caution.