In a surprising turn of events, Sam Altman has been reinstated as the Chief Executive Officer of OpenAI, following a tumultuous five days that saw his abrupt removal by the company’s board. The decision to bring Altman back comes after a concerted effort by his allies, employees, and investors who rallied behind him.
OpenAI announced a significant overhaul of its board of directors, removing several members who had opposed Altman’s leadership. The only holdover from the previous board is Adam D’Angelo, the Chief Executive of Quora. Joining the revamped board are Bret Taylor, former co-CEO of Salesforce, and Larry Summers, former Secretary of the Treasury.
The saga began last Friday when the nonprofit group overseeing OpenAI declared Altman’s removal as CEO, citing concerns about his lack of consistent candor in communications with the board. This move triggered a series of events reminiscent of the drama seen in television series “Succession” and “Silicon Valley.” Over the course of the week, OpenAI appointed two interim CEOs, Altman appeared to have joined Microsoft before a subsequent reversal of that announcement, and negotiations about his return faced multiple deadlines.
We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo.
We are collaborating to figure out the details. Thank you so much for your patience through this.
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) November 22, 2023
The company expressed gratitude for the patience of its stakeholders during this challenging period and confirmed ongoing collaboration to finalize the details of Altman’s return.
While D’Angelo was already a board member, several outgoing members, including tech entrepreneur Tasha McCauley, OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, and Helen Toner, director of strategy and foundational research grants at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, will not retain their positions.
Internal dissent within OpenAI over Altman’s removal became public as hundreds of employees demanded his reinstatement. Microsoft, which owns 49% of OpenAI, announced on Monday that it had hired Altman to lead its new AI team, with Greg Brockman, a former president of OpenAI, joining the new AI division at Microsoft.
On Monday, approximately 97% of OpenAI’s employees signed a letter expressing concerns that the board’s actions had jeopardized the mission of the organization. The letter called for the dissolution of the board and the reinstatement of Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman, threatening mass resignations if their demands were not met.
Following the announcement of Altman’s return, he took to social media, stating, “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.”
Altman, along with Elon Musk, Greg Brockman, and others, founded OpenAI eight years ago as a nonprofit AI research lab. Under Altman’s leadership, the organization has evolved into a lucrative force in the industry, with the release of ChatGPT last year setting the standard for generative AI in the tech sector.