Sam Altman returns as OpenAI CEO with Microsoft support

Sam Altman returns as OpenAI CEO with Microsoft support

WASHINGTON: The Board of Directors sacked him. He in turn fired the Board of Directors. In a head-spinning move on Tuesday, Sam Altman was reinstated as the CEO of OpenAI five days after he was shunted out, following a mass revolt among the 800-member staff who threatened to decamp with him to Microsoft.

As it turned out, the Board that fired Altman itself split, with one leading member, Adam D’Angelo, having second thoughts amid the staff protest that would have landed the entire company in Microsoft’s lap.

But on Tuesday night it was announced Altman would return as CEO with a newly constituted board including former Twitter chair Bret Taylor, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and D’Angelo, who had voted to oust Altman, the only holdover. Other members who voted to fire Altman, including one of the company’s founders, Ilya Sutskever, as well as Helen Toner and Tasha McCauley, are leaving the company, as is Altman’s successor Emmett Shear, who lasted less than 72 hours.

The battle for control of OpenAI was essentially between those who advocate caution in the rapidly evolving field of artificial intelligence, which they feel — as so many scientists and public intellectuals — poses a profound risk to society and humanity, and the more business-oriented constituency that thinks the fears are overblown and wants AI to grow naturally.

The rift also appeared to break along gender lines with two women in the ousted board, Tasha McCauley and Helen Toner, both with ties to movements believe AI could end up destroying humanity, voting to fire Altman. The cleave also involved a shadowy battle between Google and Microsoft, both headed by Indian-Americans, Sundar Pichai and Satya Nadella.

Altman thanked Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella for his reinstatement.

“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.” he tweeted.

Nadella responded, “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.”

Microsoft has invested more than $ 11 billion in OpenAI and is said to have a 49% stake in the company, valued at $80 billion. Microsoft’s incorporation of OpenAI’s main product ChatGPT into its search engine Bing enables it to compete against Google, which dominates the search field.

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