Sam Altman was reinstated as OpenAI’s chief executive late Tuesday, after the company successfully reversed his ouster by OpenAI’s board last week after a campaign by its partners, employees and investors.
The Board of Directors of the Company will be replaced by Mr. Many members who opposed Altman would be fired. Only Adam D’Angelo, the CEO of Quora, will be present.
Mr. OpenAI had reached an “agreement in principle” for Altman to return as chief executive, it said in a Post to X. “We are working together to find the details. Thank you very much for your patience through this,” he said.
Chairman of the company who resigned in solidarity, Mr. Altman and Greg Brockman’s return and rebuilding of the board capped off a frenetic five days that elevated OpenAI, maker of the ChatGPT chatbot and the world’s top artificial intelligence maker. Intelligence agencies.
“I love the Open and everything I’ve done these past few days has been in service of keeping this team and its mission together,” said Mr. Altman said. Post to XHe is looking forward to strengthening OpenAI’s partnership with its largest investor, Microsoft.
OpenAI’s revamped board of directors includes Brett Taylor, an early Facebook executive and former co-chief executive of Salesforce; Lawrence Summers, former Treasury Secretary; and Mr. D’Angelo is a current board member and CEO of question-and-answer site Quora.
Mr. Taylor will serve as chairman of the board, the company said.
Microsoft supported the move. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, said At X, he was “encouraged by the changes made on the OpenAI board,” calling it “an essential first step on the road to a more sustainable, well-informed and effective governance.”
Mr. D’Angelo led the negotiations, according to two people close to the group. A general framework for the changes came into effect late Sunday, one of them said.
Determining the composition of the group, the person and according to another, Mr. Slowed down the decision to bring Altman back. OpenAI called the new board its “initial” board, indicating that it will expand.
A person close to the panel’s deliberations on Tuesday said Mr. D’Angelo, Tasha McCauley and Helen Donner, including an independent investigation into OpenAI’s leadership, Mr. He said he pressed for some concessions from Altman.
Finally, Mrs. Donner and Mrs. Macaulay agreed to step down from the group because it was clear it needed a fresh start, he said, close to the consultations. They worry that if they all resign, even though they collectively feel they did the right thing, the board will suggest wrongdoing, this person said.
Outgoing team Mr. Focused on curbing Altman’s power. In addition to the investigation into his leadership, he and Mr. They prevented Brockman from returning to the group, and they had Mr. They objected to board members who worried they wouldn’t stand up to Altman.
OpenAI’s board on Friday afternoon said Mr. To the surprise of Altman and the company’s staff, he was told he was being fired. Mr. Mr. Altman co-founded the company with others. Brockman resigned in protest.
Mr. Altman, 38, fended off efforts by his allies in the tech industry and OpenAI’s employees to persuade the company’s board to bring him back. On Sunday evening, after a weekend of negotiations, the board said it would stick to its decision.
But hours later, Microsoft announced that Mr. Altman, Mr. Brockman and others will join the company, Microsoft said.
Most of OpenAI’s more than 700 employees signed a letter telling the team they would quit Microsoft and pursue him if Mr Altman was not reinstated, putting the start-up’s future at risk.
Four panel members – Ilya Sutzkever, an OpenAI founder; Mr. D’Angelo; Mrs. Donner, director of strategy at the Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technologies; and McCauley, an entrepreneur and computer scientist — initially Mr. had decided to fire Altman.
But as employee agitation escalated, Mr. Sutzkever was having second thoughts: “I deeply regret my participation in the board’s actions,” he said in a message to X. He also signed the letter. Mr. Sutzkever is no longer on the team, but remains an OpenAI employee.
“Ilya is delighted to have Sam back as CEO and he has been working tirelessly for days to make this happen,” said Mr. said Sutzkever’s attorney, Alex Weingarten. “It’s great for the company.”
OpenAI employees were given the week off for Thanksgiving, but many workers stayed in the office or were glued to their screens to follow the drama. “Thank God,” said one employee. “We’re back,” said another.
Thrive Capital, which is leading a new funding offering that values OpenAI at more than $80 billion, said it will continue to partner with the company “now and into the future.”
Late Tuesday night, OpenAI staff They were celebrating At the office of the company. Mr. Altman told The New York Times reporter by phone: “I hope you have a lovely Thanksgiving.”
