OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was removed from his role and has now been hired by Microsoft.
In a whirlwind few days for the AI race, Altman was ousted as CEO by OpenAI's board on Friday, while his Cofounder and (former) OpenAI President Greg Brockman was removed from the board and stepped down as President. Altman and the board spent the weekend renegotiating a potential return before discussions broke down. News broke that Altman and Brockman had been hired by Microsoft to oversee an advanced AI research team as Silicon Valley went to bed on Sunday night and the UK woke up to its Monday.
Satya Nadella, Microsoft CEO, wrote on X:
We’re extremely excited to share the news that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, together with colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team. We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success."
The Verge reported that OpenAI would bring in Twitch CEO and Cofounder Emmett Shear as interim CEO, assuming the role from former CTO Mira Murati, who was given the responsibility after Altman’s surprise sacking on Friday. OpenAI hasn’t yet confirmed Shear’s hiring, however.
"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," the rest of Nadella's statement read. "We look forward to getting to know Emmett Shear and OAI’s new leadership team and working with them."
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
So, Wait... What?
Yip, it's been a busy few days.
Almost exactly a year since OpenAI launched ChatGPT, which Altman confirmed last week had surpassed 1oo million weekly active users, OpenAI published a boost post on Friday afternoon Pacific Time with the news that Altman had been fired and Brockman had resigned.
OpenAI’s board comprises Chief Scientist, Cofounder and Board Director Ilya Sutskever, Helen Toner, the Director of Strategy at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, and former GeoSim Systems CEO Tasha McCauley. Sutskever, as reported by several outlets, was the driving force in ousting Altman.
One of the reasons OpenAI cited for Altman's sacking was that he had not been "consistently candid in his communications". OpenAI employees and Microsoft were shocked by the decision and were told it only minutes before it was publicly announced.
Altman and Brockman published a joint statement about how shocked and saddened they were on X. According to Brockman, Altman attended a meeting at noon PT on Friday in which every board member except for Brockman was present. Altman was told he was being fired, and the news would be public soon. Following that meeting, Brockman was called by Sutskever to be informed he was being removed from the board but would keep his role at the company itself.
Notably, Brockman said on X that he and Altman had been removed from their board positions over Google Meet instead of Teams — the video conferencing platform belonging to Microsoft, the company that has invested around $13 billion in OpenAI over the past few years.
Three high-level AI researchers then quit to protest Altman's removal — Jakob Pachocki, Aleksander Madry, and Szymon Sidor.
What Happened Next?
Saturday heralded a turn of events, as OpenAI's board started pondering a return for Altman after the immediate response of investor pressure —not only from its largest investor in Microsoft but also its second-largest shareholder in Thrive Capital.
The threat of an employee walkout was also palpable. Altman was a popular figure among OpenAI workers. Murati, too, publicly supported bringing Altman and Brockman back to OpenAI and was a key catalyst behind the negotiations to get them back.
