Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist—as well as the man who led the coup that ousted Sam Altman—is leaving the company.

Altman broke the news via X:

Ilya and OpenAI are going to part ways. This is very sad to me; Ilya is easily one of the greatest minds of our generation, a guiding light of our field, and a dear friend. His brilliance and vision are well known; his warmth and compassion are less well known but no less important.

OpenAI would not be what it is without him. Although he has something personally meaningful he is going to go work on, I am forever grateful for what he did here and committed to finishing the mission we started together. I am happy that for so long I got to be close to such genuinely remarkable genius, and someone so focused on getting to the best future for humanity.

Jakub is going to be our new Chief Scientist. Jakub is also easily one of the greatest minds of our generation; I am thrilled he is taking the baton here. He has run many of our most important projects, and I am very confident he will lead us to make rapid and safe progress towards our mission of ensuring that AGI benefits everyone.

Sam Altman (@sama) | May 14, 2024

Sutskever led the was the leading force behind Sam Altmans’s unexpected ouster as CEO of OpenAI late last year. Sutskever quickly regretted the decision in the wake of the firestorm that ensued, posting on X about his desire to “reunite the company.”

I deeply regret my participation in the board’s actions. I never intended to harm OpenAI. I love everything we’ve built together and I will do everything I can to reunite the company.

It’s unclear what has caused Sutskever and OpenAI to part ways, but it’s safe to say there was likely lingering tension following the co-founder’s actions.