Sam Altman Reinstated as CEO of OpenAI in Surprising Reversal

Sam Altman is returning to OpenAI as chief executive officer mere days after he was abruptly fired by the company’s board. Altman was fired last week by the ChatGPT maker after the board lost “confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.” No further explanation for his dismissal was offered. The shocking departure almost immediately led to a staff mutiny at the artificial intelligence software company. Earlier this week, more than 500 staff sent the board an open letter demanding the board’s resignation and that Altman be rehired. After several days of chaos, the San Francisco-based company said late Tuesday that it “reached an agreement in principle for Sam Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board.” The new board will consist of former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, who was on OpenAI’s previous board. Before the reversal, Altman and co-founder and former president Greg Brockman were hired by Microsoft to lead a new AI research unit, which has rights to OpenAI’s technology. Brockman had resigned in protest after Altman was fired. Microsoft also offered to hire anyone from OpenAI who wanted to follow Altman and Brockman. In a social media post, Altman said he was “looking forward to returning… and building on our strong partnership with” Microsoft and working more closely with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.