OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever QUITS startup just months after sensationally kicking CEO Sam Altman out - then rehiring him

OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, one of the original creators of the artificial intelligence technology behind ChatGPT, announced he is leaving the company after a nearly decade.

Sutskever was one of four board members last fall who voted to push out CEO Sam Altman from the company - only to quickly reinstate him. 

It was Sutskever, OpenAI's chief scientist, who told Altman last November that he was being fired.

Sutskever announced his decision on the social media site X on Tuesday. He said he is working on a new project that is 'very personally meaningful' to him, but he offered no other details. 

'After almost a decade, I have made the decision to leave OpenAI,' Sutskever said.

OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever announced he is leaving the company after a nearly decade on Tuesday

'It was an honor and a privilege to have worked together, and I will miss everyone dearly. So long, and thanks for everything. I am excited for what comes next — a project that is very personally meaningful to me about which I will share details in due time.'

Meanwhile, Altman wrote that parting ways is 'very sad' and called Sutskever 'one of the greatest minds of our generation, a guiding light of our field, and a dear friend.'

Altman had been fired from his role as CEO of OpenAI in November, leading the tech tycoon to comment on X that it was 'sorta like reading your own eulogy while you're still alive.'

Jakob Pachocki and fellow cofounder Greg Brockman, were seemingly taken aback by the firing and both quit in protest of the alleged ambush.

Brockman said in a series of posts on X that Altman was asked to attend a meeting on Friday at noon by fellow co-founder Ilya Sutskever. Brockman was the only board member who was not present.

At that meeting, Altman was told that he was being let go.

The New York Times later reported that Sutskever and Altman had been at odds for at least a year.

Sutskever was one of four board members last fall who voted to push out CEO Sam Altman from the company

Altman had been fired from his role as CEO of OpenAI in November

Sutskever was allegedly concerned about Altman's focus on growth over AI safety. The pair had been working together for eight years at the time of the firing.

Sutskever will be replaced by Jakub Pachocki as chief scientist at San Francisco-based OpenAI. 

Altman called Pachocki 'also easily one of the greatest minds of our generation' and said he is 'very confident he will lead us to make rapid and safe progress towards our mission of ensuring that AGI benefits everyone.'

Short for artificial general intelligence, AGI is a futuristic vision of machines that are as broadly smart as humans or at least can do many things as well as people can.

On Monday, OpenAI introduced an update to its AI model it says can reason across text, audio and video in real time.