OpenAI CEO Sam Altman says his iPhone broke right after he got fired: Here’s why

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was recently fired from his own company over a Google Meet call. Altman, at comedian Trevor Noah's ‘What Now’ podcast, recounted that his iPhone temporarily broke after he got the news. This happened because of the sheer number of messages on his iMessage app, it temporarily ceased to function.

Altman told Noah, "My phone was just like unusable because it was just getting notifications nonstop. iMessage did this thing where it stopped working for a while, then messages got delivered late, then it marked everything as read." Altman was getting several messages from people asking him to work with them.

During his interview with Noah, he revealed that he was in his hotel room in Las Vegas during the Formula 1 Grand Prix when he was asked to join the call on November 17. Altman added that he was in disbelief for some time and described that it felt like he was in a “fog” or “haze”. He felt a mix of emotions, including “confusion” and “pain” after he heard about his sudden termination.

He stated, “I was confused. It was chaotic", he was "obviously upset" by the board's decision, confusion was his "dominant emotion". Altman even compared this upsetting situation to when his father passed away. He said, "The only comparable life experience that I had was when my dad died. The sense of confusion and loss... there are echoes of the same thing here. I am still in shock and trying to pick up the pieces.”

Altman decided to fly back to California after he got the news. He revealed that the first night post-termination was restless for him, described it as “crazy weekend from there”.

Altman was recently sacked from his own company, OpenAI, by the board members because he was not candid with his communications with them. After massive support from the employees at the company, the board members were compelled to resign and Altman got re-instated as the CEO.

For the unversed, Sam Altman is also named “CEO of the Year” 2023 by the Time magazine. 

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