Sam Altman returns to OpenAI as CEO

Sam Altman will again become CEO of OpenAI. This was announced by the company, which also announced that it would have a new board of directors. Altman was fired on Friday by the old board of directors because he did not communicate transparently and openly enough.

OpenAI says to have reached an ‘agreement in principle’ for Altman’s return, whereby a new ‘initial’ board of directors is formed with a new chairman and two additional members. One of those members, Adam D’Angelo, was also on the old board. OpenAI says it is still working out the details. Altman says love OpenAI and look forward to returning to the company.

Altman was suddenly fired on Friday because the old council said it no longer had confidence in Altman’s leadership. The co-founder is said to have not been consistently candid enough in his communications with the board, although this decision was never further explained. Following this decision, Greg Brockman, co-founder and former president at OpenAI, resigned. Also Brockman says to return at OpenAI.

On Monday, Microsoft announced that Altman would lead a new AI research team at the company, with Microsoft indicating that OpenAI employees could transfer if they wanted. A large majority of those OpenAI employees indicated in a letter that they would consider this if the OpenAI board of directors did not resign and reappoint Altman as CEO. Investors including Microsoft had also pressured the company to reappoint Altman. Altman says he’s returning to OpenAI “with support from” Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

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…

—Sam Altman (@sama) November 22, 2023