Sam Altman Joins Microsoft Following OpenAI Departure

Following its very first OpenAI DevDay, unveiling ambitious AI-driven projects such as GPT-4 Turbo, customizable GPTs, and Assistants API, OpenAI announced a transition in leadership and fired former CEO Sam Altman.

OpenAI’s board of directors, mainly pushed by the fear of the company’s AI expansion getting out of hand and as a result increasingly harder to control, made the abrupt, sudden move after determining that Altman had not consistently been candid in his communications with the board.

Altman’s confidence that the benefits of AI being broadly available outweigh the risks as long as further proper research is done, calling for more funds and revenue sources, also reportedly became a deciding factor in his removal.

The board lost confidence in Altman’s ability to continue leading OpenAI due to the dishonesty and his over-ambitious nature towards AI, appointing CTO Mira Murati as interim CEO before eventually landing on former Twitch CEO and co-founder Emmett Shear to replace Murati.

Seismic Shift in Staff

Altman’s firing occurred without advanced warning to some of OpenAI’s largest stakeholders and partners. Many weren’t given the opportunity to weigh in on the decision, including board member and co-founder of OpenAI Greg Brockman, who has remained loyal to and is a big supporter of Altman.

Brockman learned about Altman’s removal only moments before it happened last Friday, and resigned a few hours after, with plans of starting his own company. It is also believed that three senior researchers, including research director Jakub Pachocki, AI risk evaluation head Aleksander Madry, and Szymon Sidor, resigned along with Altman and Brockman. More employees are reportedly planning their departure if Altman isn’t to return.

With Altman essentially being the face of OpenAI, his removal was more than shocking to plenty of parties. While, evidently, many of OpenAI’s staff seem to agree and may have resigned in solidarity, it is suggested that there existed a power struggle in the company.

Sources close to OpenAI revealed that OpenAI’s board member, co-founder, and chief scientist Ilya Suskever played quite a large role in the ousting of Altman due to disagreements between the research and product divisions of the company.

Should I Stay or Should I Go?

The chaotic boardroom drama eventually led to an attempt to reinstate Altman only a couple of days after his removal, due to several OpenAI backers, one of them being Khosla Ventures, demanding damage control. OpenAI attempted to woo Altman as well as the few researchers that left with him back with hours of negotiations that resulted in naught, and ended up appointing Shear as Altman’s temporary successor.

Moments after the attempt, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that both Altman and Brockman have joined Microsoft, with the duo leading Microsoft’s new advanced AI research team, with other former OpenAI employees potentially playing their part as well.

Microsoft is OpenAI’s biggest investor, and while Nadella will continue to provide abundant resources for Altman to innovate in the company’s AI research team, Microsoft remains committed to its partnership with OpenAI. In his most recent X (formerly Twitter) post, Nadella expressed that he looks forward to getting to know Shear and OpenAI’s new leadership team better.

Nadella stated that Altman would be the chief executive of Microsoft’s new research lab, with the goal of developing AI technology ambitiously, as Altman previously intended with OpenAI, but with extreme caution in mind as well. It is said that the team will operate as an independent entity within Microsoft.

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