The unexpected removal of Sam Altman, and then his immediate return as the CEO of the company he co-founded, has thrown OpenAI into chaos.
From being fired to joining Microsoft
It began on November 17, when Sam Altman was abruptly ousted from his position and removed from the company. The decision came after reported clashes between Altman and board members, particularly Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s chief scientist, over differences in the pace of the company’s generative artificial intelligence (AI) development, strategies for commercialization, and the way it was addressing potential harms around AI.
On the evening of the 17th, OpenAI officially announced Altman’s departure from the company and said it would be removing Greg Brockman, former OpenAI president, from his position as chairman of the board. It named OpenAI’s Chief Technology Officer, Mira Murati, as the interim CEO of the company in the process.
Many people were shocked, upset, and surprised by the board’s decision, and Brockman quit the company in protest following the announcement.
But shortly afterward, rumors began circulating that the board had realized its mistake and was negotiating to bring Altman back into the company. On November 19, Altman posted a picture of himself in the OpenAI office wearing a guest badge, presumably visiting to talk with the board.
first and last time i ever wear one of these pic.twitter.com/u3iKwyWj0a
— Sam Altman (@sama) November 19, 2023
However, those negotiations fell through, and roughly 11 hours later, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT), the 49% owner of OpenAI, announced that Sam Altman and former OpenAI President Brockman would join Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team.
We remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and have confidence in our product roadmap, our ability to continue to innovate with everything we announced at Microsoft Ignite, and in continuing to support our customers and partners. We look forward to getting to know Emmett…
— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) November 20, 2023
OpenAI employee revolt
When news broke that Altman would not be rejoining OpenAI, a majority of OpenAI’s employees, 599 out of approximately 770, including interim CEO Murati, threatened to resign and follow Altman to Microsoft unless the board stepped down. In a letter addressed to OpenAI’s Board, the protesting employees cited concerns about their competence, judgment, and care for the company’s mission and employees. In the letter, the employees state, “Microsoft has assured us that there are positions for all OpenAI employees at this new subsidiary should we choose to join.”
Even Board member Sutskever, who is believed to have played an integral role in removing Altman from the CEO position, signed the letter and later released a statement expressing his regret.
I deeply regret my participation in the board's actions. I never intended to harm OpenAI. I love everything we've built together and I will do everything I can to reunite the company.
— Ilya Sutskever (@ilyasut) November 20, 2023
OpenAI’s new interim CEO, Emmett Shear
Less than two hours after Microsoft revealed Altman would be joining the company, OpenAI announced a new interim CEO, former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear; the move marked OpenAi’s second leadership change in just two days.
Today I got a call inviting me to consider a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: to become the interim CEO of @OpenAI. After consulting with my family and reflecting on it for just a few hours, I accepted. I had recently resigned from my role as CEO of Twitch due to the birth of my…
— Emmett Shear (@eshear) November 20, 2023
The day after Shear was announced as the interim CEO, rumors began to circulate that OpenAI’s Board approached rival company Anthropic’s CEO, Dario Amodei, about the position left by Altman and a merger between the companies. Amodei allegedly declined both offers.
Renewed hope
But only days after OpenAI was thrown into turmoil, Altman announced his return, bringing renewed hope into the future of the AI sector.
On November 22, Altman tweeted his excitement to return to OpenAI. But his comeback isn’t the only thing to look forward to, as he announced the creation of a new board with the representation of Microsoft.
i love openai, and everything i’ve done over the past few days has been in service of keeping this team and its mission together. when i decided to join msft on sun evening, it was clear that was the best path for me and the team. with the new board and w satya’s support, i’m…
— Sam Altman (@sama) November 22, 2023
The new board isn’t fully completed yet, but unlike the previous one, which was made up of experts from the academe and the research field, the latest members have extensive backgrounds in the area of business and technology.
To this day, it remains unclear why Altman was ousted from his position as OpenAI’s CEO other than his lack of candor and clashing views with previous board members over the firm’s mission on AI development.
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