Sam Altman is back in the seat of CEO of OpenAI, five days after he and his co-founder Greg Brockman, were ousted from the company after what the previous board of directors described as a “deliberative review process”.
OpenAI, in a late statement via multiple social media platforms, said that it has reached an agreement “in principle” with Altman regarding his return. It is also very clear that the board has also been overhauled – the new board comprises Bret Taylor, Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo. The last name being a carry-over from the board that initially got rid of the man. Having said that, it has also been made clear by people close to the situation that the tree-shaking and restructuring are far from over.
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.
We are collaborating to figure out the details. Thank you so much for your patience through this.
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) November 22, 2023
Both Altman and Brockman were brought back after what can aptly be described as a series of events. No sooner had they been fired from their positions, many staff within OpenAI essentially revolted at the previous board of directors for their sudden action. Many who were clearly loyal to Altman even threatened to resign from key positions and join him at his new position at Microsoft, at the time.
Then there were the OpenAI investors, all of whom were clearly unhappy with the board that initiated Altman’s termination because they failed to explain why they fired him in the first place. Even Emmett Shear, the interim CEO at the time of Altman’s expulsion, reportedly threatened to resign unless the board provided documentation or evidence of his alleged wrongdoings within the company.
we are so back pic.twitter.com/YcKwkqdNs5
— Greg Brockman (@gdb) November 22, 2023
Once again, Altman’s initial removal by the previous board of directors are still unclear but both sides have agree to hire an independent law firm to investigate the whole debacle. At this point, we guess there is one thing that can be said: unlike the PMC group, Wagner’s alleged attempt to march on and take over the capital of Russia, this open revolt against the previous board of directors at OpenAI was clearly successful.
(Source: The Verge, TechCrunch)
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