The Smoking Gun: A 52 Page Memo Detailing Altman’s Lies
Ilya Sutskever’s newly unsealed deposition in Elon Musk’s lawsuit against OpenAI lays bare the chaos that led to Sam Altman’s brief ouster in November 2023. The cofounder and former chief scientist testified that he compiled a 52 page memo documenting a consistent pattern of lying, executive pitting, and manipulation by Altman. Sutskever told lawyers that Altman would tell different executives conflicting information about his plans, setting them against each other to serve his own agenda. He specifically cited instances where Altman played Dario Amodei, now CEO of rival Anthropic, against Greg Brockman, refusing to take a firm stance on Amodei’s demand to fire Brockman and take over all research. The memo was sent to independent board members via disappearing emails, because Sutskever feared Altman would make the evidence vanish if he knew. He admitted he had been waiting at least a year to propose Altman’s removal.
The Toxic Culture and the Failed Anthropic Merger
Sutskever’s testimony paints a picture of a CEO who created a psychologically abusive workplace, a claim that former board member Helen Toner later echoed publicly. Former CTO Mira Murati provided screenshots and documentation backing up allegations that Altman pitted her against other executives. The deposition also revealed that during the chaos of Altman’s ouster, Anthropic briefly proposed merging with OpenAI and taking over leadership, though talks fell apart quickly due to practical challenges. Sutskever said he hasn’t spoken to Altman in nearly a year but believes OpenAI is still paying his legal fees, even as he retains a financial interest in the company whose value has grown since his departure. The deposition raises serious questions about Altman’s fitness to lead a company racing toward AGI, especially given the board’s independent investigation in 2024 that exonerated him. Sutskever’s testimony suggests that investigation was a whitewash designed to protect the CEO rather than hold him accountable.
Source: Theverge
