The Fear and Tension That Led to Sam Altman’s Ouster at OpenAI

The departure of the high-profile boss of the San Francisco company drew attention to a philosophical rift among the people building new A.I. systems.

The senior executives of OpenAI in March. From left, Mira Murati, now the company’s interim chief executive; Sam Altman, the ousted chief executive; Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president who quit on Friday night; and Ilya Sutskever, a member of the company’s board.Credit...Jim Wilson/The New York Times