In a surprising turn of events, artificial intelligence start-up OpenAI, the parent company of ChatGPT, announced that co-founder Sam Altman would be returning as its CEO after a dramatic showdown with the company’s board resulted in his firing. The company stated, “We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo,” on X, formerly known as Twitter. The company also expressed gratitude for the patience of its supporters during this tumultuous time.
Bret Taylor, the former co-CEO of cloud-based software company Salesforce, will serve as the new chair of the board, while Larry Summers, a former Treasury Secretary, will also join the board. And Adam D’Angelo, the CEO of Quora, will be the only member of OpenAI’s previous board to remain in place.
In addition to the new appointments, the previous board and the returning CEO have agreed to conduct an independent investigation into Altman’s conduct, the board’s decision to remove him, and the aftermath of the situation, as reported by the Wall Street Journal.
Following the company’s announcement, Altman took to X to express his love for OpenAI and his commitment to keeping the team and its mission together. These developments come after Altman’s surprising firing last Friday, with the board citing a loss of confidence in his leadership abilities due to a lack of candor in his communications.
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This series of events resulted in a ripple effect throughout the artificial intelligence research community. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that Microsoft had hired Altman and his top deputy, Greg Brockman, to lead a new advanced AI research team. Meanwhile, OpenAI appointed Emmett Shear, the former CEO of Twitch, as interim CEO. This was initially following the appointment of Mira Murati, the company’s chief technology officer, as interim CEO.
OpenAI, founded in 2015, previously had a board consisting of chair Brockman, OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, D’Angelo, technology entrepreneur Tasha McCauley, and Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology’s Helen Toner.
The return of Sam Altman as the CEO of OpenAI signals a potential renaissance for the company and its mission to advance artificial intelligence research. With a new board of experienced leaders, there is hope for a brighter future for OpenAI and its impactful work in the field of AI. Only time will tell how this latest development will shape the future of the company and the wider AI community.
