Image: OpenAI
Microsoft is making moves amid a brewing crisis at ChatGPT creator OpenAI, following the sacking of its ex-CEO.
AI industry leader and ChatGPT creator OpenAI fired its co-founder and CEO Sam Altman on Friday in a shocking turn of events, and Microsoft was swift to turn the situation in its favour. As OpenAI staff protested the firing of its ex-CEO, Microsoft wasted no time hiring Altman to lead, “a new advanced AI research team,” while keeping its partnership with OpenAI intact.
Meanwhile, OpenAI has already found a replacement CEO: Ex-Twitch CEO Emmett Shear.
A brief timeline of what’s going down at OpenAI
OpenAI’s CEO and co-founder Sam Altman was fired from the company on Friday, with the board simply explaining that it, “no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading,” after Altman hadn’t been, “consistently candid,” with it. Altman’s removal from the company came as a great surprise to the tech industry, and certainly to the staff at OpenAI itself. The company’s announcement on Altman’s firing read:
Mr. Altman’s departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities. The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.
While the announcement is written vaguely, it seems to imply that Altman did something specific to cause distrust within the board. According to CNA, the staff has not taken this lying down. The majority of OpenAI’s almost 800-total of staff penned a letter to the media saying that they would leave en masse unless the four-person board responsible for firing Altman resigned. According to the letter, they all have jobs available and waiting at Microsoft - so there’s a strong chance of follow through there.
One day after Altman’s firing, it was announced that Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella had hired him to lead, “a new advanced AI research team,” at the company, following reports that Microsoft had been caught unawares by his firing. Microsoft has a lot invested in the future of AI and has a strong partnership with OpenAI, so this is not unexpected - the company just wants to keep a good thing going. Presumably, anyone who leaves OpenAI would work under Altman once again, leading to a different office with the same boss in it.
While all this went down, OpenAI quickly appointed Twitch’s ex-CEO Emmett Shear as its new CEO. This was the final confirmation that Altman would absolutely not be hired back in his previous role, and that the company was moving on to fix a rapidly deteriorating situation following his departure. Microsoft has since hired another OpenAI co-founder, Greg Brockman, after he was laid off with Altman. With the threat of brain drain looming over OpenAI right now, the tech giant is in a far better position to secure its hold over the AI industry than before.