OpenAI recently went through a whirlwind of power shifts and ousters in a span of five days, after the former group of board members decided that Sam Altman was no longer fit to be CEO. As you know, Sam Altman came out on top in the end, prompting the formation of a new board that includes Microsoft.
Microsoft Gets a Seat
The software giant welcomed Sam Altman with open arms after he was removed as CEO, offering him a position in its AI research team if he wasn't able to return to the AI company. Since he did, Microsoft also followed suit and joined the board.
If anything, this move was long overdue as Microsoft has a 49% stake in the for-profit entity of OpenAI. However, the position will not give the tech giant official voting power in the important decisions for the company, as reported by The Verge.
The seat grants Microsoft visibility and allows them to stay updated on the major decisions within OpenAI. That means that when something major happens like the CEO getting ousted, Microsoft will no longer be among those who are surprised by the change.
CEO Sam Altman expressed in a memo that he has never been more excited about the future. "I am extremely grateful for everyone's hard work in an unclear and unprecedented situation, and I believe our resilience and spirit set us apart in the industry," he added.
Along with Microsoft, Bret Taylor will be serving as the company's chairman and was a former chairman of Twitter. There's also former Treasury Secretary Lawrence Summers, as well as Adam D'Angelo, a member of the previous board.
Mira Murati, who briefly held the CEO position in OpenAI, will return as the company's CTO. In the same memo, Altman clarified that he harbors "zero ill will" toward Ilya Sutskever, the co-founder and former chief scientist of OpenAI who voted for Altman's removal.
The reinstated CEO expressed that while Ilya is no longer part of the board, they hope to continue their working relationship and are discussing how he can continue his work at OpenAI. Altman then continued to thank all the others who were involved or pulled into the five-day mess.
Why Was He Fired in the First Place?
There's no official reason as to why Sam Altman was fired as the CEO, only that the board believes he was not completely forthcoming and that they could no longer trust him. It was then that news of an AI breakthrough emerged, which might've been the cause of the ouster.
OpenAI researchers sent the board a letter revealing their concern over the advanced AI that could "threaten humanity," as reported by Interesting Engineering. This could've been the reason why the board believed that Altman could not be trusted anymore.
The AI breakthrough is reportedly called Q*, and it is advanced beyond all the AI tools and services that the public has access to. Compared to the AI models now, it is said to have extensive computing resources and can tackle specific mathematical problems.
