Altman’s exit is a symptom of OpenAI’s growing pains

With its rapid rise, OpenAI has had some growing pains. Earlier this week the company announced that it would pause sign-up users to ChatGPTPlus, one of its main income streams. And shortly after firing Sam Altman on Friday evening, tens of thousands of customers, including myself, received an email requesting we pay for OpenAI services up front, using pre-paid credits, rather than settling our bill at the end of the month.