Alexander Lewis
Nov 22, 2023
Following high drama over the sacking of Sam Altman as OpenAI CEO, the ChatGPT maker Wednesday announced to re-hire him and restructure the board.
The decision was taken after several talks regarding the firm’s future. It should be noted that besides having Altman on board once again, the company has also agreed to restructure the board of directors that are to be held accountable for his ouster.
Confirming the development, Altman said: "I’m looking forward to returning to OpenAI and building on our strong partnership with Microsoft."
In a post shared on X, formerly known as Twitter, Altman added: “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 Microsoft on Sunday evening, it was clear that was the best path for me and the team. With the new board and with [Microsoft CEO] Satya’s support."
Former Salesforce CEO Bret Taylor, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and Quora founder Adam D’Angelo will be part of a new board at the AI startup, with Taylor assuming the role of board chair.
Altman's return as CEO follows a chaotic weekend where his initial attempt to return was rejected by OpenAI's board, leading to his move to Microsoft to lead the new AI research team.
However, the situation was eventually resolved with Altman's rejoining the AI startup and the appointment of new board members.
Altman's removal had caused uncertainty for both OpenAI and Microsoft. In response to the situation, both companies acted swiftly over the weekend to mitigate the impact. They committed to rehiring Altman and Greg Brockman, the startup's president.
Brockman, who had resigned after Altman's dismissal, made an announcement on X that he was "getting back to coding tonight."
On Monday, more than 700 OpenAI employees expressed their intention to resign unless the board resigned and reinstated Altman and Brockman, as per a letter examined by Reuters.
"We believe this is a first essential step on a path to more stable, well-informed, and effective governance," said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella in a post on X, adding that he was pleased with the reforms made by OpenAI's management.
