Ousted OpenAI founder Sam Altman hired by Microsoft

Microsoft has hired Sam Altman and Greg Brockman to head a team conducting artificial intelligence research after the pair were pushed out of OpenAI, the company they cofounded, on Friday.

Mr Altman and Mr Brockman “together with colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team. We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success”, wrote Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella in a post on social media site X on Monday.

The move follows a dramatic weekend in which Mr Altman was abruptly sacked from OpenAI by the company’s board on Friday. He and Mr Brockman, who quit soon after, had been in talks to rejoin OpenAI which fell through late on Sunday.

OpenAI’s board subsequently named Emmett Shear, co-founder of video streaming service Twitch, as its interim chief executive, according to two people briefed on the matter.

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The unexpected move is expected to deepen rifts at the company exposed by the sacking of Mr Altman. Online media reported that dozens of Open AI staff had quit after the group’s chief scientist Ilya Sutskever said Mr Altman would not be returning to the business.

Mr Shear is the second interim appointment in three days, after the board initially replaced Mr Altman with chief technology officer Mira Murati on Friday afternoon, a decision that plunged the leading generative artificial intelligence company into crisis.

Microsoft, OpenAI’s key backer, said it would “remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and have confidence in our product roadmap, our ability to continue to innovate”, wrote Nadella.

OpenAI’s leading investors, including Microsoft and dozens of employees had rallied to Mr Altman’s side over the weekend in an effort to have him reinstated as chief executive.

On Sunday afternoon, their attempts looked likely to succeed when Mr Altman made a dramatic return to the company office. Brandishing a guest pass, the former boss posted to X: “first and last time I ever wear one of these”.

But in a message to staff late on Sunday night, Mr Sutskever, who remains on the board, announced Mr Shear’s appointment, dashing hopes of a speedy return for Mr Altman and raising further questions about the company’s future.

One person with knowledge of the board’s decision to appoint Mr Shear said: “He was really strongly recommended by a bunch of senior Silicon Valley folks. He understood the mission, he understood that he might have a rough patch on his hands because employees are super unhappy.”

The non-profit board, which controls the for-profit company, will remain in place, but neither Mr Altman nor Mr Brockman will return, according to one of the people with knowledge of the discussions. It was not immediately clear what would happen to Mr Murati.

Alongside Mr Sutskever on the board are independent directors Adam D’Angelo, the chief executive of Quora; technology entrepreneur Tasha McCauley; and Helen Toner from the Georgetown Centre for Security and Emerging Technology.

Unlike a typical for-profit company, which has fiduciary duties to shareholders, OpenAI’s board is committed to a charter that pledges to ensure AI is developed for the benefit of all humanity.

In announcing the decision to sack Mr Altman on Friday, the board claimed he had not been “completely candid”. A person with knowledge of the decision said it had become “impossible to oversee” Mr Altman, whose “superpower” was to shape narratives and influence powerful people for his own purposes.

“There was no one big problem. The board reached the point where they couldn’t believe what Sam told them,” said the person with direct knowledge of the board’s decision.

Mr Altman’s sacking followed growing unease about the pace of development and commercialisation of the powerful technology OpenAI is building, as well as concerns about Mr Altman fundraising for projects outside of the company, including a plan to develop a chip factory with the support of Middle Eastern backers, according to people with knowledge of the dispute. – Copyright Financial Times Limited 2023