“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.” – Sam Altman
Sam Altman will return as CEO of OpenAI, following an attempted boardroom coup that sent the company into chaos over the past few days.
According to reports, former president Greg Brockman, who quit in protest of Altman’s firing, will also return to the organisation.
The company, in a statement late Tuesday, informed that it has an “agreement in principle” for Altman to return alongside a new board composed of Bret Taylor, Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo. D’Angelo is a holdover from the previous board that initially fired Altman on Friday. He remains on this new board to give the previous board some representation, it was gathered.
A report by the Verge also mentioned that those who are familiar with the negotiations disclosed that the main job of this small initial board is to vet and appoint an expanded board of up to nine people that will reset the governance of OpenAI.
Microsoft, which has committed to investing billions in the company, wants to have a seat on that expanded board, as does Altman himself. During a press tour this week, CEO Satya Nadella said the company didn’t want any more “surprises.”
It was also learnt that both sides have agreed to an investigation into this whole saga. That investigation will presumably be done by an outside, independent law firm.
According to the people involved, the very human power struggle at the center of all this seems not yet completely over.
All key parties have posted about the deal for Altman to return, which we’re told is a done deal minus some last-minute paperwork. On X (formerly Twitter), Altman said that “everything I’ve done over the past few days has been in service of keeping this team and its mission together.”
“I love Openai,” Altman said in a post on his X (former twitter) account in reaction to the development. He stated that all he has been committed to keeping the team and the its mission together adding that he was looking for to rejoin OpenAi for a stronger partnership.
