OpenAI's New CEO Spent Decade Trying to Rein In Abuse at Twitch – BNN Bloomberg

(Bloomberg) — Emmett Shear, OpenAI’s interim chief executive officer, led the Twitch livestreaming site for more than a decade, building a burgeoning business, but he struggled to keep misogynists, racists and even pedophiles from running rampant on the video service.The computer scientist helped transform a niche video-game streaming company into an entertainment giant — one that Amazon.com Inc. purchased for $970 million in 2014. From former executives, he gets high marks for his focus on growth, making Twitch the go-to service for livestreaming and gaming culture, and for ferreting out some of the abuses at an internet business built on user-generated content.Now, Shear needs to quell an open revolt among OpenAI employees. After his appointment, nearly all threatened to quit unless the board resigned, and both Microsoft Corp. and Salesforce Inc. have tried to poach its talent. At Twitch, Shear left a controversial legacy. While few doubted his technical abilities, he drew criticism for coarse comments and for scandals during his stewardship. He has close ties to the effective altruism movement, whose proponents played a central role in firing of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.Twitch is still at times an outlet for extremist views and even a haven for child predators. As interim CEO of OpenAI
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