Ilya Sutskever, a pioneering figure in artificial intelligence (AI), has left OpenAI, the research company he co-founded. This follows a tumultuous year marked by a public leadership struggle between Sutskever and CEO Sam Altman.

Sutskever reportedly attempted to remove Altman from his position earlier this year. Though Altman returned to OpenAI five days later, the incident cast a light on internal disagreements about OpenAI's direction and its approach to developing new AI technologies.

In a message to the company, Altman acknowledged Sutskever's brilliance and invaluable contributions, stating, "OpenAI would not be what it is without him."

"After almost a decade, I have made the decision to leave OpenAI.  The company’s trajectory has been nothing short of miraculous, and I’m confident that OpenAI will build AGI that is both safe and beneficial under the leadership of Sam..." Sutskever tweeted on X. 

Sutskever's future plans remain unclear, but he has hinted at a new project. "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," he added.

OpenAI has named Jakub Pachocki, a prominent researcher who has led key initiatives like GPT-4 and OpenAI Five, as the new chief scientist. Pachocki's experience positions him well to continue OpenAI's research efforts, according to a company statement.

The company recently unveiled a new version of its popular ChatGPT chatbot 4o and boasts an $80 billion valuation.  More updates in our timeline story here.