Sam Altman has made a stunning return to OpenAI as CEO just five days after he was ousted and poached by Microsoft.
The AI firm had on Monday named ex-Twitch boss Emmett Shear as interim chief executive, sparking a staff mutiny that lead to ‘intense discussions’ among bosses.
But on Tuesday night it was announced Altman would return and be joined by a new initial board of former Twitter chair Bret Taylor, ex-US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers with board member Adam D’Angelo, who voted to oust Altman, the only holdover.
The other members who voted in favor of the firing, including one of the company’s founders, Illya Sutskever, as well as Helen Toner and Tasha McCauley, are now leaving the company. Interim CEO Emmett Shear is also gone.
Returning alongside Altman is another of the company’s founders, Greg Brockman. On Tuesday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Sutskever was convinced to change his mind on Altman’s future with the company after an intervention from Brockman’s wife, Anna.
‘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,’ he said in a post on X early Wednesday morning.
Altman thanked Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella for helping to make the stunning reversal happen.
‘When i decided to join [Microsoft] on Sunday evening, it was clear that was the best path for me and the team. With the new board and with Satya’s support, I’m looking forward to returning to openai, and building on our strong partnership with [Microsoft].
In a statement of his own, Nadella credited the changes to the board in getting Altman back to OpenAI.
‘We are encouraged by the changes to the OpenAI board,’ he wrote. ‘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.’
OpenAI posted it’s own statement on X to confirm the announcement.
‘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,’ they wrote.
‘We are collaborating to figure out the details. Thank you so much for your patience through this.’right incensed – over the new technology, OpenAI execs have expressed confidence in its future, saying they both ‘believe in the responsible creation and use of these AI systems’ earlier this year.
More recently, Microsoft provided OpenAI Global LLC with a $10 billion investment, on top of another $1 billion dished out to the firm in 2019.
Employees last month were trying to sell some of their shares at a valuation of $90 billion dollars, after it was was valued at about $29 billion in a share sale just a few months ago.
Forrester analyst Rowan Curran speculated that Altman’s departure, ‘while sudden,’ did not likely reflect deeper business problems.
‘This seems to be a case of an executive transition that was about issues with the individual in question, and not with the underlying technology or business,’ Curran said.
