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Well, all the fighting has stopped, and the weekend of drama is finally over. After nearly a week of drama, Sam Altman is now back at OpenAI. This is something that we pretty much saw coming, but it’s good to see it happen.
In case you haven’t been following the news, OpenAI fired its CEO Sam Altman last Friday, and it’s been a storm of drama ever since. Hours after the news, the company’s co-founder and president Greg Brockman left the company. He and Altman started planning for a new company before Microsoft hired them.
In the process, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella said that Microsoft would provide a home for everyone who left OpenAI due to Altman’s firing. That was one of the most notable things about this whole situation.
Well, the drama is over, as Sam Altman is back at OpenAI
Microsoft hiring Altman almost seems like a ploy used by a person to make their ex jealous (well, the ex and their 700 employees). Soon after we heard the news that Microsoft had hired Altman, we got the news that he was still open to returning to OpenAI. During the beginning of the week, he was still in talks with the company, more specifically the non-profit board overseeing the company, about returning.
Upon returning, that board would need to resign. The board originally consisted of four people: OpenAI Chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, director of strategy at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology Helen Toner, and Former GeoSim System CEO Tasha McMauley. However, shortly after the drama, Ilya Sutskever willingly left the board.
Well, according to a post on the OpenAI X account, it looks like the board was wiped clean, and a new board, consisting of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo has been formed. We’re sure that this board won’t be so keen on firing Altman in the future.
So, that puts a cap on the situation now, the ordeal, as a whole, is not over. OpenAI still has to deal with the company’s financial status which upset investors probably made worse. All we can do is hope that the newly reunited company can find a solution to this issue.