ChatGPT maker OpenAI has reinstated Sam Altman as its chief executive days after firing him from the position. The company also said it would create a new board of directors.
“We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo,” OpenAI said in a post to X (formerly Twitter). “We are collaborating to figure out the details. Thank you so much for your patience through this.”
The new OpenAi board, which replaces the one that fired Altman last week, will include former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor at the helm, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, who was on the previous board of directors.
The decision marks a dramatic U-turn that capped five days of drama in the artificial intelligence community. OpenAI’s board of directors announced Friday that Altman, the co-founder of ChatGPT, is stepping down from the company, saying he was “not consistently candid in his communications” with them.
The move stirred serious internal dissent at OpenAI as more than 700 of its 770 employees signed an open letter to the company’s board, threatening to leave the company over Altman’s firing. The letter also demanded the board be dissolved and that Altman and Greg Brockman, another co-founder who quit OpenAI over Altman’s ouster, be reinstated.
On Tuesday, Brockman posted a picture of him and other OpenAI employees on X, writing: “We are so back.” In an earlier post on X, he wrote: “Returning to OpenAI & getting back to coding tonight.”
Meanwhile, the board of directors named 3 CEOs in just 3 days as Altman’s replacements, all while negotiating the best course of action for OpenAI over the weekend.
“i love openai, and everything i’ve done over the past few days has been in service of keeping this team and its mission together. when i decided to join msft on sun evening, it was clear that was the best path for me and the team. with the new board and w satya’s support, i’m looking forward to returning to openai, and building on our strong partnership with msft,” Altman said in a post on X, minutes after OpenAI officially announced his return, referring to Microsoft’s Monday announced that Altman would join the company, alongside Brockman, to lead a new AI research team.