After firing Sam Altman this past Friday, OpenAI—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.
OpenAI 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 OpenAI 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 OpenAI 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. OpenAI 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.”
