After firing Sam Altman this past Friday, Open AI—the company behind ChatGPT—announced on X late Tuesday that Altman has been reinstated as CEO. The news caps a dramatic five days in which the company’s board removed Altman and replaced him with former Twitch head Emmett Shear, prompting a staff revolt. Meanwhile Altman was offered a job at Microsoft, OpenAI’s largest investor. Now, coming full circle, Altman is back at the helm of the artificial intelligence startup.
Open AI also announced a new three-member board consisting of Bret Taylor, the former Facebook CEO, Twitter board president, and Salesforce co-CEO; former Treasury Secretary and Harvard President Larry Summers; and Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo (who had served on the board previously).
The relationship with Microsoft, whose stock tumbled on the initial announcement of Altman’s firing and then rose again when it appeared he would work for the company directly, remains key for Open AI and Altman. Though Microsoft does not currently hold a board seat despite its reported investment of more than $13 billion, The Verge is reporting that Taylor, Summers, and D’Angelo will vet a new, larger Open AI board on which Microsoft is expected to have a seat.
In a post on X, Altman wrote about his decision and the company’s future with Microsoft and CEO Satya Nadella: “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 looking forward to returning to openai, and building on our strong partnership with msft.”
Nadella also chimed in on X with his support: “We are encouraged by the changes to the OpenAI board. We believe this is a first essential step on a path to more stable, well-informed, and effective governance. Sam, Greg, and I have talked and agreed they have a key role to play along with the OAI leadership team in ensuring OAI continues to thrive and build on its mission. We look forward to building on our strong partnership and delivering the value of this next generation of AI to our customers and partners.”
Questions still remain about the reason for Altman’s firing in the first place, which the previous board has not explained publicly. Open AI did not immediately announce what arrangement it had come to with the other former board members besides D’Angelo, though to cap off the saga one member, Georgetown professor Helen Toner, posted on X: “And now, we all get some sleep.”
Login to add comment
Other posts in this group
There are so many ways to die. You could fall off a cliff. A monk could light you on fire. A bat the size of a yacht could kick your head in. You’ve only just begun the game, and yet here you are,
Former Tinder CEO Renate Nyborg launched Meeno less than two years ago with the intention of it being an AI chatbot that help
The most indelible image from Donald Trump’s inauguration in January is not the image of the president taking the oath of office without his hand on the Bible. It is not the image of the First Lad
Ernest Hemingway had an influential theory about fiction that might explain a lot about a p
The first 100 days of Trump’s second presidential term have included a surprising player that doesn’t seem likely to go away anytime soon: Signal.
The encrypted messaging pl
Cancer research in the U.S. doesn’t rely on a single institution or funding stream—it’s a complex ecosystem made up of interdependent parts: academia, pharmaceutical companies, biotechnology start
Dive into the exhilarating world of innovation with FC Explains, a video series that spotlights the game changers and visionaries from Fast Company’s prestigious Most Innovative Companies list. Th
