My Final Essay for Journalism: News, Media, and Society
By Aylin Bruce
Within our modern society’s digital revolution, the birth of AI has become at the forefront of our world’s remarkable achievements, while raising various ethical concerns. Among the many AI systems being launched within the past year or so, OpenAI has become one of the most well-known AI research labs and companies for its popular AI Chatbot interface, ChatGPT. Founded on advancing digital intelligence for the betterment of humanity, and marking its measured in being used safely and ethically, the company has been the backbone of advancements in natural language processing, reinforcement learning, robotics, response generation, etc. The CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, has been critically acclaimed for his work in developing his company, traveling around the world to meet with presidents, and prime ministers, and sharing his global agenda in AI policy structures. As an established venture capitalist and mentor to other founders originating Silicon Valley sensation, Altman's influence in the tech industry is comparable to Bill Gates and Steve Jobs (ABC News).
However, his role as CEO took an unexpected turn on November 17th, 2023 when OpenAI announced Altman was leaving his role, following a review undertaken by the company’s board of directors. The news was surprising, lacking prior hints or public discussions. A statement from OpenAI, read, "Mr. Altman's departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities. The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI." (OpenAI).
This unexpected shift created a whiplash effect throughout tech communities and greater mainstream and legacy media. There had been no previous talk about the inconsistencies that came with Altman’s leadership and communication style. This event led the majority of employees at OpenAI to demand that their former CEO, Sam Altman be reinstated after the company’s board fired him on Friday and that their actions could trigger the downfall of their company. The messy ousting and uncertain leadership transitions following Altman’s dismissal represent a pivotal part of AI corporations' narrative. It is critical to monitor this story’s coverage from day 1, November 17th to day 5, November 21st, 2023 to track the new leadership positions being reinstated. Media coverage from the following news providers will be examined on days 1 to 5, respectively: The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Wall Street Journal, CBS News, and CNBC Television.
Initially, day 1 of this segment was centered around the barebones of Altman leaving on November 17th, which will be analyzed through the New York Times article, OpenAI’s Board Pushes Out Sam Altman, Its High-Profile C.E.O. The writing in the article fell under Journalism of Assertion (based on The Elements of Journalism), as the information presented was done in a straightforward, authoritative manner without extensive analysis or interpretation, which is common when breaking news msu release information quickly. The article explains once Sam Altman had been fired, Open AI’s chief technology officer, Mira Murati was put in place as the interim CEO. In protest, hours later, chairman of the board Greg Brockman, the company’s president, reported he was quitting. The New York Times expressed ambiguity with the exact reasoning behind Altman’s dismissal, avoiding speculating reasonings or drawing from other events to explain the inconsistencies in his communications and the eroding confidence in his leadership. This hole in the story mirrors the idea of a functional truth. This idea of journalistic truth suggests those engaged in reporting the news should strive to convey a fair and reliable account of the event’s meaning which can be valid for that point in time, but is subject to further investigation once the story has unveiled more information. Therefore, the writers focused on reporting more on the actual process of the event; they explained how Altman was asked to join a video meeting with the board at noon on Friday and was immediately fired through the news of Ilya Sutskever, the company’s chief researcher. It is important to note that the article had much praise and outlines Altman and OpenAI’s successes and the revolutionary impact it had on the world, as a positive bias toward him. Although the article says Murati would be stepping in as the interim CEO in the subtitle of the article, there was not much discussion about her background and role in stepping up in the piece, other than a brief quote she shared when being interviewed by The New York Times, in her remaining supportive of OpenAI. This may be because The New York Times wanted to wait and gather more information as this story unfolded before giving Murati her spotlight in the press. Furthermore, the article takes an interesting note in linking his removal to disturbing Microsoft, which has invested $13 billion in the company, translating to a 49% stake in the company. Furthermore, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella introduced its plan to use Open AI in nearly all its products and business software, establishing a good relationship between Altman and Nadella (Metz, C., New York Times). The New York Times planted this meaningful connection with Microsoft as an important segway into the coming days of this story. In retrospect, The New York Times has published 29 articles within the 5-day examined window, suggesting their deep involvement in covering this issue, contrary to the Washington Post, which only had 15.
The Washington Post’s article published the next day on November 18th, called Sam Altman in talks to return to OpenAI amid a rift over the dangers of artificial intelligence. This article delved deeper into the circumstances leading to Altman's dismissal of the people in the company who was familiar with the board’s proceedings and expressed safety concerns that Altman had not been forthcoming about his “aggressive fundraising strategies with autocratic regimes in the Middle East”, as there There were worries that such strategies could potentially lead to OpenAI’s developing digital surveillance systems or facilitating human rights violations (Gerrit De Vynck, et al., The Washington Post). The Post reported some of the company’s employees were concerned about Altman’s focus on building consumer products to drive up revenue, which conflicted with OpenAI’s philosophy to safeguard and uplift humanity. Notably, this association with Middle-Eastern conflicts is a new thread of information that hasn't been mentioned much by other media outlets. There also appears to be a power struggle revolving around Altman and Sutskever, as Sutskever had more commitments to safety and controlling superintelligence compared to Altman’s push towards commercialization and aggressively hiring employees for product development. Furthermore, similar to the New York Times, The Post corroborates information about Microsoft continuing to support OpenAI in their partnership that Friday. There is foreshadowing in this article, in that Microsoft may consider taking Altman to the board, considering it has made a significant financial investment in OpenAI for AI research and development initiatives (Gerrit De Vynck, et al., The Washington Post). Interestingly, The Post had no information regarding Mira Murati after being appointed in her new role. The absence of Murati’s coverage is peculiar, considering she had been appointed the day before this was published, mirroring a pattern noticed between both the November 17th New York Times and The Post’s article. Overall, the article highlights the ongoing tension between AI’s competitive rush to dominate the market, and the pushback to prevent AI from surpassing far beyond human control.
On the third day of this developing story, The Wall Street Journal released a podcast episode on November 19th called The Journal on OpenAI’s Week of Absolute Chaos. The episode featured a Q&A conversation between Deepa Seetharaman, one of the Wall Street Journal’s reputable reporters covering AI within the tech bureau in San Fransisco, and Kate Linebaugh, the recently appointed deputy U.S. news coverage chief and co-host of The Journal. Rahman acts as a Sensemaker, synthesizing and helping audiences understand complex issues, making them coherent and understandable to lay people. She uncovers the conflicts within the company over the past week and gives a clear summary including Altman’s rise to fame. She uses more dramatized rhetoric describing the coup-like nature of the conflict. This tone may have been more apparent since audiences can hear the voices and personalities of these reporters, opposed to written text from the previously analyzed articles. They are given the space to analyze their own perspectives on this matter, which podcast platforms give them the agency to do: “Everyone just assumed that somehow it was like a crime or something,” Says Rahman, after Linebaugh asked her thoughts on sources around Sam being described as not “consistently candid”. “Clearly, he must've done something very, very, very problematic to be ousted this quickly, this soon.” (Rahman, The Wall Street Journal). She also supported information from the Washington Post, such that Sutskever had been more concerned with AI’s corrupting power in how it could affect the future. Later on in the episode, Rahman focuses on the company’s disturbed culture with the employees. She described how OpenAI invited Altman back on Sunday to discuss how investors and employees put pressure on the company to reinstate him as CEO. After a lengthy discussion, the board stuck to its decision, brewing even more anger amongst the company’s employees. Microsoft announced they were going to hire Altman and Greg Brockman to run their new advanced AI research group, corroborating The New York Times and Washington Post’s foreshadowing of Microsoft’s support in their relationship with OpenAI. The following day, Rahman reports how more than 500 out of 770 employees have signed a petition to say they all quit in protest unless the board reinstates Altman and Brockman. Rahman emphasized how she was expecting such a strong pushback from all of Silicon Valley, and how she had never experienced this level of shock as a tech journalist: “I think this is the craziest story I've ever covered as a business reporter”. She also mentioned her efforts in calling 50+ people to find out more information, showcasing her Collaborative Intelligence efforts in interacting with people affected by this matter in gathering, reporting, and sharing information with the public. Although this informational source is mixed with personal commentary, it provides a refreshing, empathetic insight into the absurdity of the situation and the future path for AI companies. Overall, the Wall Street Journal has published 38 sources of coverage, ranging from articles to many podcast episodes, exploring this issue. This makes sense, considering this news intersects tech and business, which is highly relevant to Wall Street Journal’s ethos.
On the 4th day, CBS published an article called “Hundreds of OpenAI workers threaten to quit unless Sam Altman is reinstated as CEO”, which took over a more critical and concerned approach in the OpenAI board’s executive decisions. After the failed attempt to get Altman reinstated as CEO, the board appointed Emmett Shear, co-founder and former CEO of Twitch, a video games live-streaming platform. He quickly replaced Mira Murati, who was the interim CEO. The article includes featured quotes from external parties, including Sarah Kreps, director of Cornell University's Tech Policy Institute: "If the architects and vision and brains behind these products have now left, the company will be a shell of what it once was.” She explains how due to all the impressive tools OpenAI invested in Microsoft, Microsoft will generate great advancement in AI technology, potentially plummeting some of the efforts from OpenAI as a company. In general, the article emphasizes more of Microsoft’s role in this situation, which was not as imminent in other press coverage. For instance, its shares rose more than 2% on Monday, a record high as investors supported the company in hiring Altman and Brockman (CBS News). Pulling data from these business investments exhibits Journalism of Verification as a way to show audiences the evidence to support their analyses and how these are not just theories. Also, analysts were critical of Shear’s hiring in place of Murati, as that board decision would “forever be viewed as a tainted move by OpenAI that caused chaos internally and externally," Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives wrote Monday in a note to clients (CBS News). Ives also noted how Altman is a valuable asset and if Microsoft lost Altman, he could also deliver major contributions to a host of other tech giants working to advance their AI systems. He also predicts how many engineers and developers would leave OpenAI and head to Microsoft in protest of Altman leaving. As this story develops, the comments from key analysts and investors significantly influence the evolving narrative and offer insights into the repercussions for OpenAI and the general tech industry, rather than solely focusing on Altman and the internal conflicts of OpenAI alone. Similar to the Washington Post, CBS news only published 15 articles on the Altman case, significantly lower than the Wall Street Journal and The New York Times.
To add more to the OpenAI, mayhem, November 21st marked a full-circle moment. Altman reached an agreement in principle to return as the CEO for Open AI, from his short-lived time at Microsoft, with a newly established board. On CNBC’s show called The Squawk Box, a “pre-market” morning news and talk program in which anchors Joe Kernan, Becky Quick, and Andrew Ross Sorkin unpack the business and politics stories. That morning, they discussed last night’s breaking news of Altman returning, pulling up receipts and pictures from Twitter of Altman and Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft in their live updates. Andrew Ross Sorkin shows Altman’s tweet in which he states: “I love openai, and everything i’ve done over the past few days has been in service of keeping this team and its mission together [...] i’m looking forward to returning to openai, and building on our strong partnership with msft.”.
They also show Nadella’s tweet in support of Altman, who nevertheless remained supportive about Altman’s decision to return to OpenAI: “We are encouraged by the changes to the OpenAI board. We believe this is a first essential step on a path to more stable, well-informed, and effective governance” (CNBC Television). He then states his interest in continuing to build on their strong partnership in delivering value to customers and partners, demonstrating his unwavering commitment and civility to OpenAI despite Altman turning away. The three introduce the discussion of Bret Taylor being named Board Chair. They explained how his hiring was an interesting choice considering he was originally chairman of Twitter and there had been concerns about Twitter's performance, and the question of whether it should have recently been sold to Elon Musk. Becky Quick raises insight into the clash between the board vouching for the ethics and betterment of humanity, and the pushback from investors. She also considered the company’s employees who felt like their opinions were diminished and they didn’t have self-governance in any of the board's decisions. Since there have been more days and collected information from this week, reporters have begun to diver into deeper critiques. The three anchors discussed the overall dangers in corportate, for-profit entities, in regulating ethical matters like AI for instance, and how OpenAI approached their high capital through massive investments, with the help of Microsoft. This news segment was critical in deeper analysis and opinions that went beyond the logistics of what happened, and in what this week suggests in the grander scheme of corporate governance, ethics, and the friction between employee perspectives and board leadership. This analysis is important for both lay audiences and larger authorities into the intricacies of tech governance.
Overall, the week of November 17 to November 21 was an important demonstration of a critical developing story in seeing how various media sources covered Sam Altman’s dismissal and reinstatement as CEO. Not only did audiences get a sense of his personal difficulties over the past week, but there were also close connections between the internal affairs of the company and external affairs like Microsoft’s and other tech giant’s roles in the chaos. The news coverage demonstrates several aspects of journalism methods and the nature of storytelling. For instance, the beginning coverage of the events catered to the delivery and foundation of the information, and towards the end of the week, there was more time and accumulated information for commentators and writers to offer personal analysis and perspectives for a more comprehensive view. This exhaustive coverage not only informs but also invites audiences to reflect on our media’s approach to serving communities pressing stories on the intricacies of AI and technology in our advancing society.
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