Sam Altman’s return to the leadership of OpenAI is even more unexpected than his sudden dismissal. The transition of almost the entire organization to Microsoft started to seem obvious.
Sam Altman, one of the founders of OpenAI, was unexpectedly fired from the position of CEO on Friday. In the background were disagreements about how an initially non-profit organization should be run for profit. epa10858733
The artificial intelligence research center OpenAI announced on November 22 that they had reached an agreement in principle by Sam Altman returning as its CEO.
The company’s new board of directors will form Bret Taylor, Larry Summers and Adam D’Angeloof which Taylor is the chairman of the board.
The organization announced the matter on the message service X (formerly Twitter) on November 22 at eight in the morning Finnish time, at ten on Tuesday evening US west coast time.
Among the board members, Quora CEO D’Angelo was also part of the previous board, which decided on Altman’s previous dismissal. The other two are new members.
To write about it The Verge according to this, it is a temporary board whose sole task is to evaluate and decide the next board, which will consist of a maximum of nine people.
The previous government decided on Friday 17.11. About Altman’s firing from the position of the CEO of the research center. The background was a lack of trust in Altman’s actions, as well as disagreements about whether the non-profit organization should be run more for profit or in accordance with its principles for the general good.
The resignation also came as a surprise to the then chairman of the board To Greg Brockman, who resigned in protest. In addition to him, three of OpenAI’s key artificial intelligence researchers – Jakub Pachocki, Aleksander Madry and Szymon Sidor – announced their resignation.
Negotiations for Altman’s return to OpenAI began on Saturday and were hosted by Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella. Microsoft is one of OpenAI’s most significant investors, investing 10 billion dollars in it in 2023, and over the past year has turned its company strategy in a significant way towards artificial intelligence.
On Sunday, the negotiations collapsed. As a result, Nadella announced that he would hire Altman as the CEO of the artificial intelligence department to be established for Microsoft, and that all employees who would like to leave OpenAI would also find a place at Microsoft.
According to Forbes reportedly, at least 700 of OpenAI’s approximately 770 employees planned to quit. This gave birth According to Business Insider There is also dissatisfaction among Microsoft employees.
In the following days, however, Nadella softened his statements, when negotiations about Altman’s possible return to the leadership of OpenAI continued. However, he stated in interviews that changes must be made to the organization’s board.
What is more likely that Microsoft will have representation in OpenAI’s future board this time, The Verge speculates.