Despite a weekend of negotiations in which Sam Altman’s future as CEO of OpenAI hung in the balance after his sudden dismissal on Friday, the company board confirmed early Monday morning that it has named former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear as interim CEO.
In a shock twist, Altman, 38, is now heading to Microsoft—one of OpenAI’s main investors. In a statement, Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said Altman and fellow OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman “will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team.”
“We remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and have confidence in our product roadmap, our ability to continue to innovate with everything we announced at Microsoft Ignite, and in continuing to support our customers and partners,” Nadella wrote on X.
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He went on to say that Altman and Brockman “together with colleagues” would be joining Microsoft, possibly suggesting that more OpenAI staffers could be following the pair out the door.
“the mission continues,” Altman wrote in a reply to news of his new role.
According to The Verge, Altman began talks with the board of the company that launched ChatGPT and put artificial intelligence on the fast track just a day after his unceremonious firing—following an investor revolt over the board’s decision.
The Wall Street Journal reported that OpenAI backer Microsoft and venture capital firm Thrive were leading the drive to put Altman, 38, back at the helm of OpenAI.
A deadline for the decision was originally set for 5 p.m. PT on Saturday, but was then extended to 5 p.m. PT on Sunday when the board failed to take action.
Altman was back in the building at the negotiating table Sunday afternoon, with his return conditioned on the current board—the same board that fired him—stepping down. The “sticking point,” according to The Verge, was who would replace those current members. The Wall Street Journal confirmed that despite proposing a number of names, including Bret Taylor, the former co-chief executive of Salesforce, and Brian Chesky, the chief executive of Airbnb, the board chose not to agree to Altman’s demands.
Altman posted a selfie Sunday afternoon holding an OpenAI guest pass. “First and last time i ever wear one of these,” he wrote.
The news of Altman’s permanent departure was first confirmed by The Information followed by The Verge on Monday morning. The outlet noted that co-founder and board member Ilya Sutskever delivered the news to staff Sunday night, confirming that Shear would take over as interim OpenAI CEO from Mira Murati, who was appointed after Altman got the boot on Friday. The decision made Shear the third CEO in just three days.
Early Monday, Shear said that becoming the interim CEO of OpenAI is a “once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” and that he deliberated for “just a few hours” before accepting the offer.
In a lengthy X post, Shear went on to say that “the process and communications around Sam’s removal has been handled very badly” and that he would hire an independent investigator to “dig into the entire process leading up to this point.”
He also added that he’d “checked on the reasoning” for Altman’s ouster. “The board did *not* remove Sam over any specific disagreement on safety, their reasoning was completely different from that,” Shear wrote. “I’m not crazy enough to take this job without board support for commercializing our awesome models.”
The whiplash-inducing turn of events began to unfold Friday afternoon, when OpenAI announced that Altman had been fired for not being “candid” with the board.
OpenAI also kicked Brockman off the board but allowed him to remain president. However, hours later, he posted on X that he was quitting.
The shakeup came as a surprise to Altman, Brockman, OpenAI employees, and even top investors, according to multiple reports. “Sam and I are shocked and saddened by what the board did today,” Brockman tweeted.
Altman also addressed his dismissal on X: “i loved my time at openai. it was transformative for me personally, and hopefully the world a little bit. most of all i loved working with such talented people. will have more to say about what’s next later.”
OpenAI did not explain why Altman was canned and Brockman demoted, but in an internal company memo obtained by Axios, chief operating officer Brad Lightcap wrote, “We can say definitively that the board’s decision was not made in response to malfeasance or anything related to our financial, business, safety, or security/privacy practices. This was a breakdown in communication between Sam and the board.”
Plugged-in tech journalist Kara Swisher reported that there was a split between those who wanted to accelerate commercial uses for AI and those who want to move more cautiously given the enormous power and risks of the new technology.
Even before he was fired, Altman was planning on launching a new AI venture with partners outside OpenAI, Reuters reported.
