Sam Altman Officially Returns as OpenAI CEO

OpenAI announced that they had reached an agreement for Sam Altman to resume the role of CEO. Concurrently, a new board of directors has been established, with Bret Taylor, former CEO of Salesforce, assuming the role of chairman. Other board members include former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury Larry Summers and Adam D’Angelo, the founder and CEO of Quora.

“We are collaborating to understand the details. Thank you for your patience in this matter,” OpenAI stated on the X social media platform.

Greg Brockman, co-founder of OpenAI and former president, shared OpenAI’s post on X with the status update: “Remarkable progress has been made today. We will come back stronger and more united than ever.” Later, Brockman also declared his return to the company, stating that he would “get back to programming tonight.”

Amazing progress made today. We will come back stronger & more unified than ever: https://t.co/osjgUDMkmX

— Greg Brockman (@gdb) November 22, 2023

Sam Altman immediately posted a status update on X regarding his return as CEO of OpenAI, expressing hopes to build a partnership with Microsoft: “I love OpenAI, and everything I’ve done in the past few days is to sustain this team and its mission. When I decided to join Microsoft on a Sunday evening, it was clear that it was the best path for me and the team.”

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. when i decided to join msft on sun evening, it was clear that was the best path for me and the team. with the new board and w satya’s support, i’m…

— Sam Altman (@sama) November 22, 2023

With the support of the new leadership and Mr. Satya (Microsoft CEO), I look forward to returning to OpenAI and building a strong partnership with Microsoft,” wrote Mr. Altman.

On November 18, the leadership of OpenAI unexpectedly announced that Mr. Altman was no longer trusted in his leadership role. Following this announcement, Mr. Greg Brockman and three key scientists also declared their departure from OpenAI.

After the news of Mr. Sam Altman’s termination, more than 740 out of 770 employees at the artificial intelligence company OpenAI (USA) jointly signed an open letter demanding the resignation of the company’s board and the reinstatement of Mr. Altman as CEO. Otherwise, they threatened to resign en masse to join Microsoft, Mr. Altman’s new workplace.

Mr. Altman is expected to join Microsoft. Meanwhile, OpenAI has appointed Mr. Emmett Shear, co-founder and former CEO of the world’s largest online game streaming platform Twitch, as the interim CEO.

In a post on X, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella welcomed the changes in OpenAI’s board, stating, “We believe this is a necessary first step toward more stable, fully informed, and effective governance.