In a tumultuous series of events this weekend, Sam Altman was fired from OpenAI as its CEO and co-founder, rumored to be splitting off to his own venture, possibly returning as OpenAI CEO, and finally ended up hired at Microsoft to head their AI research and development team at approximately 3am Eastern Monday, November 20.
Altman returned to OpenAI headquarters yesterday to negotiate with former colleagues Mira Murati (briefly interim CEO) and the board to return as CEO under specific terms. But after talks broke down between the OpenAI Board of Directors, Altman was clearly out, further reportedly enraging Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
Nadella subsequently hired Altman to head Microsoft’s AI research and development team. He will undoubtedly have free reign to deeply integrate OpenAI and presumably new, proprietary generative AI technologies Altman will oversee.
Altman had reportedly wanted a new board and governance structure if he were to return, which was counterintuitive to the existing board’s own efforts for the preservation of control and ultimately selecting a new CEO.
Murati, who ended up interim CEO for mere hours, is now in flux as OpenAI’s board has chosen to hire Emmett Shear, former chief executive of Twitch, as the new interim CEO. It’s presumed she will return to her role as Chief Technology Officer. But, she was in favor of Altman returning and tweeted that “OpenAI is nothing without its people” to show solidarity and support for both Altman and the original firm structure.
OpenAI on Damage Control
The whirlwind of events this weekend is sure to set off shockwaves for the next several days across Silicon Valley. OpenAI is clearly left to defend itself and its board’s decisions to oust a key AI figurehead and its former chief executive. Altman was not just another Silicon Valley executive; he was the figurehead of a new
Newly-appointed CEO Shear has already begun to deflect and deny rumors of Altman being pushed out for what were perceived safety or security concerns of its technologies.
“The board did not remove Sam over any specific disagreement on safety, their reasoning was completely different from that,” new interim CEO Shear said in his lengthy post on X. “I’m not crazy enough to take this job without board support for commercializing our awesome models.”
Microsoft Prevails with Hiring Altman, Brockman
While it’s unclear what future OpenAI has—and whether key figureheads like Murati will remain—Microsoft is the surprising winner of this whole debacle, which could’ve gone very differently.
If Altman was ousted from OpenAI and had gone off to start his own new venture, Microsoft’s deep investment in OpenAI would start to evaporate in dividends. We could already picture the rush of big tech players trying to invest billions to rocket Altman’s next big thing into prevalence, while OpenAI would flounder as the forgotten Altman company holding on due to Microsoft’s deep investment.
Indeed, Microsoft’s after-hours stock trading was trending negatively over the weekend as it seemed they were about to see an enormous loss of return on investment if OpenAI was heading south.
That negative future trend reversed once Altman and Nadella made official their hiring and appointed him as a key figurehead within Microsoft’s own AI research and development division.
Suddenly, Microsoft pulled off a victory in what could’ve been a disaster.
Nadella also committed to hiring former OpenAI co-founder and President Greg Brockman, who quit once Altman was fired. Other colleagues are likely to be hired by Microsoft as well.
What’s next for OpenAI, Microsoft, and Murati? If this weekend taught us anything, Silicon Valley moves fast and is unpredictable.
