Stability AI founder and CEO Emad Mostaque has stepped down from his role and the company’s board, making it the second major change in the AI startup scene this week.
Stability AI, backed by investors like Lightspeed Venture Partners and Coatue Management, has not yet named a permanent replacement for Mostaque. Instead, COO Shan Shan Wong and CTO Christian Laforte will serve as interim co-CEOs, according to a blog post.
Stability AI’s CEO
Why did he Resign?
Mostaque is leaving Stability AI to pursue decentralized AI, as he believes that “centralized AI” cannot be beaten with more centralized AI. He emphasized the need for transparent and distributed governance in AI, expressing concern about the concentration of power in the field.
The departure of Mostaque comes at a challenging time for Stability AI, which has seen the departure of several key employees in recent quarters. The startup, known for its image generation tool Stable Diffusion, was reportedly spending $8 million a month as of October 2023 and had struggled to raise new funding at a $4 billion valuation.
Mostaque’s focus on revenue growth has evolved over time. While he previously expressed amusement at the focus on revenue in generative AI companies, he now aims for Stability AI to be cash flow positive this year. He believes that open models will be crucial for edge computing and regulated industries, and that enterprise adoption is on the horizon.
The AI industry has seen significant developments this week, with Inflection AI, a startup that raised $1.5 billion, announcing that two co-founders and several staff had joined Microsoft.
