Sam Altman returns as OpenAI CEO: The comeback saga

In a surprising turn of events, OpenAI announced on November 22 on X (formerly known as Twitter) that Sam Altman — who was fired by the company’s board on Friday — will be reinstated as the CEO. The decision comes after intense pressure from employees and investors who strongly disapproved Altman's abrupt removal by the board last week.

The return

OpenAI stated that they have reached an "agreement in principle" for Altman's return as the CEO. Greg Brockman, the company's president who was also removed from the board last week, will also immediately regain his seat on the decision-making board.

The company has also added new board members. Bret Taylor, former co-CEO of Salesforce, and Larry Summers, former Secretary of the Treasury, will join the board of OpenAI, the AI research lab said. Adam D'Angelo, co-founder and CEO of Quora, will remain part of the board. He was also a member of the original board that dismissed Altman.

Meanwhile, Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI's chief scientist who delivered the news of Altman's firing, will reportedly step down from the board but remain at the company.

This development has put an end to almost a week-long period of chaos that sent shockwaves across the tech world.

READ MORE: Sam Altman Sacked: Why the world's hottest startup OpenAI fired its own founder and CEO

Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, called the changes to the board a "first essential step on a path to more stable, well-informed, and effective governance."

Emmett Shear, the recently appointed interim CEO of OpenAI, also applauded the move, saying, "I am deeply pleased by this result, after approximately 72 very intense hours of work. Coming into OpenAI, I wasn't sure what the right path would be. This was the pathway that maximised safety while also doing right by all stakeholders involved. I'm glad to have been a part of the solution."

The boardroom saga

In a blog post published minutes after Altman's dismissal on November 17, OpenAI accused the entrepreneur of being "not consistently candid in his communications with the board" and stated that they "no longer have confidence in his ability to continue leading" the company.

However, reports suggest that the dismissal was the result of a growing rift between Altman and other members of the board.

OpenAI gained widespread attention after the launch of the chatbot ChatGPT in November of last year. While this success made OpenAI one of the leading tech companies in the world, Altman became the face of the generative AI revolution. However, this success divided the board members, as some members became increasingly concerned about the potential dangers that the company's technology posed to society. They also felt that Altman wasn't prioritizsing these risks and was more focused on building OpenAI's business.

Just weeks before his dismissal, Altman reportedly had an argument with Helen Toner, one of OpenAI's board members and an AI safety researcher at Georgetown University, regarding her recent research paper that compared the safety approaches of OpenAI and rival company Anthropic.
The crisis at OpenAI began on Friday of last week when Altman joined a video conference call with the board, excluding Brockman. Sutskever informed Altman that he was being fired and that the news would be announced shortly, according to a tweet from Brockman. Sutskever then informed Brockman that he was also being removed from the board but invited him to remain at the company.

OpenAI then published a blog post on its website announcing the firing. "Mr. Altman's departure follows a thorough review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to fulfill its responsibilities," the post said. "The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI." The board stated that they had appointed Mira Murati, the chief technology officer, as the interim CEO.

While speculation began to circulate about what the board meant by "not consistently candid in his communications," the board declined to provide further information about how or why they had reached their decision. Brockman announced on Twitter that he was resigning from the company in protest of the board's firing of Altman, and employee sentiment at OpenAI quickly turned against the board, along with a significant portion of the tech-focused conversation on X, formerly known as Twitter.

Investors were also angered by the decision. Microsoft reportedly only learned of the board's decision to fire Altman one minute before the blog post was published. Nadella quickly began leading efforts to have the board reinstate Altman at the company, with support from other OpenAI investors Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures, and Tiger Global Management, according to Bloomberg.

Earlier this week, Nadella announced that Altman and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman would be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team.

By Monday, nearly all of OpenAI's over 700 employees had threatened to leave and join Microsoft's effort unless the board stepped down and reinstated Altman, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters.

This move was supported by Microsoft's vast computing power, the key asset driving OpenAI's technology, along with its staff of computer scientists.

READ MORE: Microsoft hires former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to lead AI research

On Wednesday, the effort to reinstate Altman as OpenAI's CEO was successful. As part of the deal, Altman agreed to an internal investigation into the alleged lack of candor with the board that led to his firing, according to The Information.

SemiAnalysis, a research and consulting firm, said in a note (seen by Reuters) that any attempt by OpenAI's non-profit board to slow down AI's development out of safety concerns had backfired.

"Now the world’s largest corporations without clear oversight/commitment to safe and responsible AGI is in the driver’s seat," the note said.