Sam Altman will return to OpenAI as CEO, and a new board will be formed, the company said in a statement Tuesday after reaching an “agreement in principle” with Altman. The statement said OpenAI and Altman are “collaborating to figure out the details.”
The new board will include Bret Taylor, the former co-CEO of Salesforce; Larry Summers, the former Treasury secretary; and Adam D’Angelo, CEO of Quora and the only member of OpenAI’s previous board to remain. Taylor will be the chairman, the company said. Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president who resigned in protest after Altman was ousted, will also return to the company.
As many as six additional members are expected to join the new board, according to the Wall Street Journal. The New York Times reports there may be representation for Microsoft among the new members. The tech giant is OpenAI’s biggest investor, with a 49% stake. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella called the development “a first essential step on a path to more stable, well-informed, and effective governance.”
Before the agreement between Altman and OpenAI was reached, Nadella left open the possibility of Altman returning to OpenAI in interviews but called for improved governance, according to the Associated Press.
“We are encouraged by the changes to the OpenAI board,” he posted on X late Tuesday. “We believe this is a first essential step on a path to more stable, well-informed, and effective governance.”
The announcement of the agreement resolves a five-day stretch that raised questions about the future of the artificial intelligence startup and potential effects on the AI industry as a whole.
Altman was initially ousted by the company’s board on Friday citing Altman wasn’t “consistently candid in his communications” with the board, which refused to provide more details on why he was fired. Amid investors’ and employees’ efforts to restore Altman as CEO, Microsoft announced Monday that it had hired Altman and Brockman to lead an advanced AI research team. Nearly all the startup’s 770 employees signed a letter in response threatening to quit if Altman was not reinstated.
To learn more about the board’s decision to fire Altman and the role of its unique board structure, this Wall Street Journal article answers six questions you may have.
