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Durk Kingma, a co-founder of OpenAI, has announced his move to competitors Anthropic.
Kingma stated on X yesterday that he looks forward to working with skilled team members, including former colleagues from OpenAI and Google. He mentioned that he would work remotely from the Netherlands and plans to visit the San Francisco Bay Area frequently, but he did not specify which Anthropic team he would join.
Personal news: I'm joining @AnthropicAI! ?? Anthropic's approach to AI development resonates significantly with my own beliefs; looking forward to contributing to Anthropic's mission of developing powerful AI systems responsibly. Can't wait to work with their talented team,…
— Durk Kingma (@dpkingma) October 1, 2024
Kingma, who holds a Ph.D. in machine learning, was a research fellow at Google before co-founding OpenAI, where he directed the algorithms team for generative AI models like DALL-E 3 and ChatGPT. In 2018, he became a part-time angel investor and consultant to AI startups, rejoining Google at Google Brain, which merged with DeepMind in 2023.
Another OpenAI Team Member Joins Anthropic
Kingma’s hiring enhances Anthropic’s talent pool, following the additions of former OpenAI co-founder John Schulman and safety lead Jan Leike.
Dario Amodei, Anthropic’s CEO and former VP of research at OpenAI, left in 2019 due to disagreements over the company’s increasing commercial focus and recruited several former OpenAI employees to help establish Anthropic.
OpenAI has recently confirmed the departures of three executives, including Chief Research Officer Bob McGrew and CTO Mira Murati, amid its transition to a for-profit model. CEO Sam Altman announced promotions within the research division and plans for a new structure that retains the nonprofit’s minority stake while seeking funding to boost the company’s valuation to over $150 billion.
Apple has reportedly pulled out of discussions to join OpenAI’s $6.5 billion funding round, while Japanese investment firm SoftBank plans to invest $500 million.
