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Having been ousted by board members late last week, Sam Altman is already due to be reinstated as OpenAI CEO. The tech tycoon has his workforce to thank.
Well, this is awkward.
Cast your mind all the way back to last Friday (November 17th), when the surprising news broke that OpenAI CEO Sam Altman had been dismissed by the company board.
Having led OpenAIโs first developer conference just a week prior, in which the landmark announcement of โGPTsโ was delivered and demoed by Altman himself, the company co-founder was let go by executives for failing to be โcandid in his communications.โ
Exactly what that meant was never clarified outside of OpenAIโs walls, but Altmanโs walking orders would be about as short-lived as a juice cleanse anyway.
The corporate drama that unfolded in wake of the announcement was frankly biblical, with nearly all of OpenAIโs 750-strong workforce threatening to resign over the weekend.
This put Sillicon Valley rivals on high alert, as some of the best talent in AI development wouldโve been without work or representation overnight.
Sam and I are shocked and saddened by what the board did today.
Let us first say thank you to all the incredible people who we have worked with at OpenAI, our customers, our investors, and all of those who have been reaching out.
We too are still trying to figure out exactlyโฆ
โ Greg Brockman (@gdb) November 18, 2023
Once the Uno reverse card was shown and the employees seized the upper-hand โ which didnโt take long โ the newly formed union not only demanded that Altman be returned to his post, but also for wholesale changes to be made to personnel at board level.
Microsoft, a major shareholder in OpenAI, showed solidarity with the disgruntled workforce and called for a change in โgovernance structure.โ
It even offered Altman and ex company president Greg Brockman โ who was let go shortly after โ lead positions for a Microsoft AI research program on Monday (November 20th), which they reportedly agreed to verbally.
Nonetheless, the threat of a mass staff exodus was enough to see the demands come to fruition in a matter of days. Both Altman and Brockman have now officially resumed work at OpenAI, having basically had the weekend off.
we are so back pic.twitter.com/YcKwkqdNs5
โ Greg Brockman (@gdb) November 22, 2023
