Anthropic, a rival AI startup founded by former OpenAI executives, has been approached by OpenAI’s board of directors to discuss the possibility of merging the two companies and replacing their CEO. However, Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, declined both proposals, according to The Information on Monday.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has hired Sam Altman and other key personnel from OpenAI as employees. This move has caused unrest among OpenAI’s staff, with nearly all of the startup’s 700 employees threatening to quit and one board member already resigning.
Anthropic was founded in 2019 by Amodei and other former executives from OpenAI who left due to disagreements over the safe development and governance of AI. Since then, Anthropic has secured investments from Google and Amazon and has seen its Claude AI models gain prominence alongside OpenAI’s GPT series.
The news of the approach from OpenAI’s board comes as anthropomorphic AI continues to gain traction in the industry. According to Jeffrey Dastin at Reuters/Dado Ruvic/Illustration on March 31st 2023 , this move is likely driven by a desire for more resources and talent in order to compete with anthropomorphic rivals like DeepMind and Mistral AI.