Fired head of OpenAI back at the helm

SAN FRANCISCO — The ousted leader of the ChatGPT-maker Open-AI is returning to the company that fired him late last week, the latest in a saga that has shocked the artificial intelligence industry.

OpenAI of San Francisco said late on Tuesday: "We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board" made of former Salesforce co-chief executive Bret Taylor, former US treasury secretary Larry Summers and Quora chief executive Adam D'Angelo.

OpenAI's previous board of directors, which included D'Angelo, had refused to detail why it fired Altman on Friday, leading to a weekend of internal conflict at the company and growing outside pressure from the startup's investors.

The chaos also accentuated the differences between Altman, who has become the face of generative AI's rapid commercialization since ChatGPT's arrival a year ago, and members of the company's board who have expressed deep reservations about the safety risks posed by AI as it becomes more advanced.

Tuesday's reshuffle appeared to favor Altman and financial backer Microsoft, which is rolling out Open-AI's technology to business customers globally.

In a statement on X, Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella welcomed the changes on Tuesday.

Essential step

"We believe this is a first essential step on a path to more stable, well-informed, and effective governance," he said.

D'Angelo will stay on what Open-AI called the new "initial board". It was not immediately clear if the remaining directors holding no equity in OpenAI would retain their seats, or if investors in its capped-profit entity, such as 49 percent owner Microsoft, would win their first appointments.

Reuters earlier reported that some investors were exploring legal recourse after the week's events threatened the future of OpenAI, recently forecast to have a more than $80 billion valuation.

Spokespeople for the startup did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Susannah Streeter, head of money and markets at Hargreaves Lansdown, said OpenAI's path was now clear of the recent and murky tumult.

"Sam Altman's views about how to run the company will dominate future direction, especially given he'll be supervised under a new board."

Altman's dramatic turnaround has drawn comparisons in Silicon Valley lore to Steve Jobs, the Apple chief executive who left the computer maker in a 1985 power struggle only to return 12 years later.

Altman took back the CEO mantle after four days.

His departure had immediately precipitated upheaval at OpenAI, with President Greg Brockman quitting in protest. By Sunday, Altman was back at OpenAI's offices expecting his swift reappointment, when the board surprised again by naming ex-Twitch boss Emmett Shear as interim chief executive.

In a post on X on Tuesday, Shear said he worked "72 very intense hours" to bring stability, and ultimately Altman, back to OpenAI. "This was the pathway that maximized safety alongside doing right by all stakeholders involved," he said.

Altman's master stroke was made possible in part by Microsoft. When he was out of a job, chief executive Nadella said Altman could head a new research team alongside Brockman and other colleagues departing from OpenAI.

By Monday, nearly all of OpenAI's over 700-strong staff had threatened to leave and join Microsoft's effort unless the board stepped down and reinstated Altman, according to a letter reviewed by Reuters.

This threat was backed by Microsoft's vast computing power, the key asset powering OpenAI's technology along with its staff of computer scientists.

Co-founder and President Brockman celebrated with a staff selfie late on Tuesday, having beaten the US Thanksgiving deadline against which parties raced to negotiate.

Agencies Via Xinhua