This fall, ChatGPT creator OpenAI has gone through some widely talked about changes.
First, it was announced that founder and CEO Sam Altman was fired. Then, he was quickly brought back after widespread worker and investor protest.
Hundreds of employees said they would leave for jobs at Microsoft if Altman was ousted. In November, OpenAI went through 3 CEOs in a week, only to end up with Sam Altman as the CEO once again.
So, what exactly happened? Let’s take a look.
A Quick Summary of Events
On November 17th, OpenAI’s board suddenly announced that Sam Altman and co-founder/board member Greg Brockman were out with no warning.
There were weekend talks to restore Altman, but they went nowhere.
Following that, former Twitch boss Emmett Shear was announced as OpenAI’s temporary CEO.
However, Open AI’s employees wanted Sam Altman back.
Hundreds of them, including former interim CEO Mira Murati and a former board member, wrote and signed a letter to Open AI’s board,
They threatened to quit en masse if Altman was not reinstated.
Negotiations took place and Sam Altman has returned with president Greg Brockman. Murati has returned to her role as the company CTO.
The deal also includes new boardmembers, some of which represent Microsoft.
There is still a lot of mystery surrounding why this all happened.
Why Was Sam Altman Fired?
There is a lot of speculation surrounding this. While we don’t have a definitive answer, a lot of information has leaked since this all happened.
A report from The New Yorker alleges that the old board wanted to get rid of Sam Altman quickly and with the element of surprise. They even deliberately excluded Microsoft executives so they could not warn Sam Altman that he was about to be fired.
This firing occurred because the board believed that Altman had not been forthcoming about the potential dangers of the AI his company is developing.
As such, the board believed that Microsoft would back up their swift and secret decision. This was not the case. Reportedly, as OpenAI’s largest investor, Microsoft found it “mind-boggling” and “stupid.”
As nearly every OpenAI employee signed a letter threatening to leave and work for Microsoft if Altman was not given his job back, almost no one involved approved of this decision.
In a blog post, the board wrote that Altman was fired following:
“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.”
An anonymous source close to the matter told the Washington Post that the board wanted to remove Altman because they were struggling to oppose him.
Altman is well-connected, in a powerful position, and is known for being a shrewd businessman. He is both a respected and controversial figure in Silicon Valley.
This was not the first time he had been fired from an organization he led.
A New Board Is Part of the Deal
As the old board made a very unpopular decision, it makes sense that many of them are being replaced. This new board includes:
- Former co-CEO of Salesforce Bret Taylor
- Former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers
- Quora Chief Executive Adam D’Angelo
Summers has been vocal about the future of AI, and believes it will disrupt the job market quickly. He also serves on the board of Block. Block is a payments firm founded by Twitter founder Jack Dorsey.
Summers also served as President of Harvard University for 5 years but resigned due to staff protest after he publically made remarks that many considered sexist.
Taylor is also a board member at Shopify and will chair the OpenAI board.
Adam D’Angelo is the only original member to remain, and was one of the board members who initially opposed Sam Altman. In the mid-2000s, he was CTO of Facebook for two years.
A Win-Win Situation for Microsoft
Microsoft is AI’s largest investor, and they hired Altman to lead an advanced AI team for them right after he was fired, meaning that they would benefit from his expertise whether he worked with OpenAI or not.
After he was reinstated, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella made an optimistic post on X, formerly Twitter:
However, even if Altman was not reinstated, many of OpenAI’s employees would have followed him to Microsoft. This would have likely proved to be a huge boost to Microsoft, and possibly catastrophic for OpenAI.
It is difficult for a business to continue or recover when most of its employees leave at once.
A Look At The Infamous Letter
It could be said that Sam Altman must be doing something right if so many of OpenAI’s employees show such loyalty to him. At the time of his firing, Open AI was roughly a 770-person company.
More than 700 employees signed a letter supporting him, asking for him to be reinstated, and threatening to follow him to Microsoft.
Here is the letter in its entirety:
Breaking: 505 of 700 employees @OpenAI tell the board to resign. pic.twitter.com/M4D0RX3Q7a
— Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) November 20, 2023
As you can see, the employees accuse the board of making baseless claims without evidence and in general acting duplicitously.
They accuse them of sabotaging the company with their poor decisions, being incapable of carrying out their duties, and acting in bad faith.
The letter ends:
Microsoft has assured us that there are positions for all OpenAI employees…should we choose to join. We will take this step imminently, unless all current board members resign, and the board appoints two new lead independant directors, such as Bret Taylor and Will Hurd, and reinstates Sam Altman and Greg Brockman.
Interestingly, OpenAI’s former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, who many say was partially behind the push to remove Sam Altman, also signed the letter threatening resignation if Altman is not reinstated.
He posted on X:
What Did Sam Altman Have To Say About It All?
The Verge spoke with Sam Altman about the widely publicized 5 day boardroom coup at OpenAI. Here is what he had to say about how he felt when they fired him and asked him to come back a day later.
“It took me a few minutes to snap out of it and get over the ego and emotions to then be like, ‘Yeah, of course I want to do that.”
During his interview, he did not explain the exact motivations behind the board attempting to oust him. We may not have clear answers for some time. When asked why he was fired, he said:
The board is going to do an independent review here. I very much welcome that. I don’t have much else to say now, but I’m looking forward to learning more.”
When asked why the board lost trust in him, Altman said:
“That will be a better question for them.”
He preferred to talk about the future, that answers will come in time, and said that the board is not even his main focus at the moment. When asked what he learned from this, Altman had this to say:
“I learned that the company can truly function without me, and that’s a very nice thing. I’m very happy to be back, don’t get me wrong on that. But I come back without any of the stress of, “Oh man, I got to do this, or the company needs me or whatever.” I selfishly feel good because either I picked great leaders or I mentored them well. It’s very nice to feel like the company will be totally fine without me, and the team is ready and has leveled up.”
Final Thoughts on the Attempted Boardroom Coup at OpenAI
Overall, November was a very complicated time at OpenAI. While we still don’t have all the answers, it is obvious that there was significant friction between Sam Altman and the old board.
What exactly their problems are, we may never know. The board claims that Altman was being reckless with safety concerns surrounding artificial intelligence, but so far we do not know what they mean by that.
The employees of OpenAI claim that they have no proof to back up these claims, and so far none of the evidence, if it exists, has been made public.
The way the board went about trying to oust Altman, in secret without input from their largest investor Microsoft, also raises questions.
At any rate, Sam Altman is back at OpenAI, and the company is continuing its work.
What do you think? Comment below.
Since 2009, we have helped create 350+ next-generation apps for startups, Fortune 500s, growing businesses, and non-profits from around the globe. Think Partner, Not Agency.
Find us on social at #MakeItApp’n®
