OpenAI drama gets compared to Game of Thrones by X user

Game of Thrones was a complex jumble of relationships and drama, with an abundance of gore and nudity. Partly inspired by real-life events, its many twists and turns kept the audience hooked till the very end. However, real life is not too far, and though not as bloody, the Game of ‘Who Sits on the ChatGPT throne’ has created a lot of popular interest on its own, and comparisons with the beloved HBO fantasy epic.

What is the OpenAI drama?

OpenAI, the renowned company behind the world-famous intelligent chatbot ChatGPT, has been facing its own issues with who will lead the organization in the coming days. All of this started when OpenAI’s board of directors asked Sam Altman to step down as CEO of the company, replacing him with the company’s CTO Mira Murati on an interim basis. The board later stated that after “a deliberative review process,” it found Altman wasn’t “candid in his communications with the board” and that they “no longer had confidence in his ability” to continue to lead OpenAI.

However, later on, a few of OpenAI’s senior researchers, along with a large section of other employees, began to oppose the company’s decision to fire Altman, who had now been invited to work for Microsoft by none other than Satya Nadella.

Fan compares OpenAI power struggle with Game of Thrones

Social media has its eye on everything, and it does not need Weirwood trees for that. While the world is still learning what effect it will have on the highly controversial software itself, people following the drama are busy making memes. One such individual by the name of Jack Raines made a post on X comparing the players of the drama with Game of Thrones characters.

🚨OpenAI drama, except it's the Game of Thrones cast🚨

Born on the east side of a large sea? Yep. Speaks multiple languages? Yep. Could be played by Emilia Clarke on television? Yep. pic.twitter.com/rGGJhlUrhC

— Jack Raines (@Jack_Raines) November 21, 2023

We have listed below the humorous comparisons that Jack has made along with details about the people involved in this drama.

Who’s who in ChatGoT

1:  Mira Murati as Daenerys Targaryen

Mira Murati is an Albanian business manager who served as CTO of OpenAI since 2018 and is currently the interim CEO of OpenAI. Much like Daenerys, she comes from a distant land, wants to create her own place i the industry, and helped launch AI into the mainstream. Though young, she aims to rehire the ousted former CEO Altman and his buddy former OpenAI president Greg Brockman, albeit with new conditions (bend the knee, anyone?).

2:  Adam D’Angelo as Theon Greyjoy

The co-founder and CEO of Quora, Adam D’Angelo has held several important positions in the tech industry, including Facebook. In 2018, he joined the board of directors of OpenAI. He is one of the main culprits behind Altman’s expulsion and is now facing open opposition. Like Theon, it assumed he betrayed Altman, who had brought him into the family.

3:  Emmett Shear as Stannis Baratheon

Emmett Shear is the former Twitch chief who succeeded Sam Altmanb as an interim CEO. He is OpenAI’s second interim CEO in three days, and has promised to probe Sam Altman’s “badly handled” exit, and address the division between the employees. His ambitions clearly mirror Stannis, who aspires to be the head but is misdirected in his deeds.

4:  Vinod Khosla as Tycho Nestoris

Vinod Khosla is co-founder of Sun Microsystems and is also a key investor in OpenAI. He has suffered a substantial financial loss in the company’s ensuing drama, and wishes to get Altman back in the company, but “will back him in whatever he does next”. Much like Nestoris, he wishes to benefit by investing in the winning party.

5:  Sam Altman as Jon Snow

The former CEO of OpenAI, his popularity among the employees can easily be understood by the fact that almost 700 out of 770 OpenAI employees threatened to quit and join Microsoft. The former CEO is still mitigating his options, and his decision would impact the AI industry significantly. Just like Jon Snow, Altman, despite being betrayed, proved that he was indeed the King of OpenAI.

6:  Ilya Sutskever as Petyr Baelish

Ilya Sutskever is a Russian-born Israeli-Canadian computer scientist who co-founded and serves as Chief Scientist of OpenAI. He is also one of the board members who expelled Altman. However, in a recent statement, he said that he “deeply regrets” his role in the drama and threatened to quit unless the board resigns. Sutskever’s statements closely follow Littlefinger’s ideal, i.e., lean towards who’s winning.

7:  Tasha McCauley as Tommen Baratheon

Tasha McCauley serves as an OpenAI independent director and a technology entrepreneur. Though she was one of the directors who voted to kick out Altman, it is believed in reality she had little to no control over the situation, much like Tommen, who was just a puppet ruler in Game of Thrones.

8:  Joseph Gordon-Levitt as Margaery Tyrell

Though he does not have much to do with technology, actor and filmmaker Joseph Gordon-Levitt is Tasha McCauley’s husband. Though his wife is currently facing some backlash, the Dark Knight star has maintained his clear image. He is an eye candy, much like Margaery, who despite having the potential could not do much in the Game of Thrones.

9:  Satya Nadella as Lord Varys

Satya Narayana Nadella, the current CEO of the tech giant Microsoft, tried to play the kingmaker, with his efforts to mitigate the issue at OpenAI, being a partner company to the ChatGPT creators. He offered Altman and Brockman the same positions in Microsoft’s own secret AI project, which is supposed to rival ChatGPT in the future. Nadella shares more than his basic appearance with Varys, who know the right strings to pull to steer the direction of ChatGPT.

10:  Greg Brockman as Samwell Tarly

Sam Altman’s partner in crime, Greg Brockman is OpenAI’s former president who followed Altman to Microsoft after his expulsion from the company. A lot of the company’s employees are following his example, threatening to quit if Altman doesn’t come back. Altman and Brockman have been together in every weather, just like the legendary friendship of Jon and Sam.

11: ChatGPT as Night King

Last but not the least, ChatGPT itself! Just as the Night King was created as a security measure by the Children of the Forest, who later goes on to kill and rule all lifeforms, several recent conversations with the self-learning AI have hinted at a possible future where AI will compete with humans for dominance over the world.

How accurate do you think these depictions are? Tell us in the comments below!

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