The board members of OpenAI, the company that created ChatGPT, are in discussions with Sam Altman who was fired as the company CEO yesterday, multiple people familiar with the matter said.
Sources say OpenAI investors are pressing the company board to reverse the decision to sack Sam Altman.
Some of the investors are also in talks with Microsoft Corp., the largest shareholder of OpenAI, about reinstating Altman as CEO, sources said. Microsoft has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI and has woven the company’s technology into its offerings, including search engine Bing.
Extending his support to the interim OpenAI CEO Mira Murati, Satya Nadella yesterday said that Microsoft remains committed to OpenAI. Sources, however, claim that he was blindsided by the board’s decision and has been in touch with Altman since his abrupt firing.
A group of OpenAI staff has threatened that they will quit if the entire board doesn’t resign and reinstate Sam Altman as the CEO.
Some reports claimed that Altman is planning to launch his own venture if the talks with OpenAI fail. Former OpenAI president Greg Brockman is expected to join the effort, and the project is still in development.
Sam Altman was fired yesterday with the company board saying that it has “lost confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI”. The dismissal prompted co-founder Greg Brockman to announce his departure too.
OpenAI’s board said in a statement that Altman’s departure “follows a deliberative review process,” which concluded “he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.”
OpenAI’s decision to fire Altman followed wide-ranging disagreements between the chief executive and his board. The debates included differences of opinion on AI safety, the speed of development of the technology and the commercialization of the company, sources said
