Chatbot maker OpenAI fired and almost rehired Sam Altman before he was picked up by its chief strategic partner, Microsoft.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Sam Altman, the former CEO of AI powerhouse OpenAI, is joining Microsoft to lead a \u201cnew advanced AI research team,\u201d the tech giant\u2019s CEO Satya Nadella confirmed on X (formerly Twitter) on Monday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Greg Brockman, OpenAI\u2019s former president who quit after Altman was fired on Friday, is also joining Microsoft to work in the new group.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Nadella said Microsoft was \u201cextremely excited\u201d to announce the recruitment of Altman and Brockman, \u201ctogether with colleagues\u201d who also jumped ship at OpenAI following the CEO\u2019s chaotic dismissal.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
OpenAI was believed to be looking to rehire Altman after what was widely reported as a messy ouster on Friday. He was spotted at the company\u2019s headquarters on Sunday, where it was speculated that he was discussing the terms of his return, which would include a restructuring of the board that had fired him. Microsoft, the ChatGPT developer\u2019s main financial backer, apparently won out instead.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
While the circumstances of Altman\u2019s firing from OpenAI remain unclear, the company\u2019s board claimed in its statement on Friday that the tech executive had not been \u201cconsistently candid\u201d in his discussions with them, hampering the board\u2019s ability to do its work.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Brockman blamed a disagreement with OpenAI\u2019s research division, led by co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, in a post on X on Friday in which he acknowledged he and Altman were \u201cstill trying to figure out exactly what happened\u201d leading up to the CEO\u2019s ouster. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Altman, he said, was summoned by Sutskever on Thursday night to a board meeting on Friday, where he was told \u201che was being fired and that the news was going out very soon.\u201d Brockman also got a meeting summons from Sutskever, who told him he was being removed from his post as chairman and that Altman had been fired. Despite Sutskever reportedly telling him he was \u201cvital to the company and would retain his role,\u201d Brockman resigned.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Insiders told CNN there was a clash of attitudes between Altman, who wanted to speed up AI product development, and the board, which wanted to prioritize caution \u2013 with Altman\u2019s own cautious public rhetoric not matching his actions behind the scenes. Altman\u2019s recent announcement that OpenAI was releasing a way for anyone to create their own ChatGPT-like chatbot was reportedly \u201can inflection moment of Altman pushing too far, too fast\u201d for Sutskever and the board. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Microsoft owns a $13 billion share in OpenAI and uses the company\u2019s technology to power its Bing chatbot. Like Altman himself, the company did not learn the CEO was fired until \u201cjust before\u201d it was announced publicly. <\/p>\n\n\n\n
Meanwhile, OpenAI hired former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear as interim CEO on Monday, taking over from the company\u2019s chief technology officer Mira Murati, who had been named interim CEO following Altman\u2019s ouster.<\/p>\n\n\n\n