Sam Altman Reinstated as OpenAI CEO Days After Sudden Dismissal

Sam Altman participates in a discussion during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation CEO Summit in San Francisco on Nov. 16, 2023. Eric Risberg/AP Photo

Sam Altman, the co-founder of OpenAI, has been reinstated as CEO of the artificial intelligence (AI) tech company, just days after his shock firing, capping off a turbulent few days.

OpenAI confirmed Mr. Altman is returning to the company in a statement on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Nov. 21, noting that the tech giant and its founder had reached an agreement “in principle” on the matter.

Mr. Altman will return as CEO alongside a new board initially chaired by former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and current board member Adam D'Angelo, co-founder of Quora.

“We are collaborating to figure out the details. Thank you so much for your patience through this,” OpenAI said.

OpenAI, the company behind the popular chatbot ChatGPT, fired Mr. Altman on Nov. 17, citing the board’s loss of confidence in his leadership ability.

Officials also claimed Mr. Altman had not been “consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities,” although they stopped short of providing further details regarding his ousting.

However, the move sparked outrage among many staff members at the AI giant, with at least four employees resigning in protest over his termination and more than 500 more threatening to quit unless the board of the company resigned.

The company’s board quickly replaced Mr. Altman as CEO with Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, before hiring former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear as OpenAI’s new interim CEO.

Altman Moves to Microsoft

In the meantime, Mr. Altman was quickly snapped up by Microsoft—which is a close partner of OpenAI and has invested more than $10 billion in the company since 2018—just days after his sudden dismissal from OpenAI.

At the time, Microsoft said it remained a partner with OpenAI despite the management shuffle.

Mr. Altman confirmed his return to OpenAI in a separate statement online Tuesday, noting that Microsoft is supportive of his return to the AI firm.

“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 [Microsoft] on sun evening, it was clear that was the best path for me and the team,” he wrote.

“With the new board and w [with] Satya’s [Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella] support, I’m looking forward to returning to OpenAI and building on our strong partnership with msft,” the tech entrepreneur wrote.

Mr. Nadella also welcomed Mr. Altman’s return as CEO in a post on X Tuesday, writing that the tech giant is “encouraged” by the latest changes to the OpenAI board.

Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, attends Microsoft's 'Young Innovators' Summit' in New Delhi, India, on Feb. 26, 2020. Anushree Fadnavis/Reuters

Microsoft ‘Encouraged’ by Altman’s Return

“We believe this is a first essential step on a path to more stable, well-informed, and effective governance,” Mr. Nadella wrote. “Sam, Greg, and I have talked and agreed they have a key role to play along with the OAI leadership team in ensuring OAI continues to thrive and build on its mission. We look forward to building on our strong partnership and delivering the value of this next generation of AI to our customers and partners.”

Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s co-founder and president who resigned in protest over Mr. Altman’s dismissal last week will also be returning, he announced in a separate statement.

Mr. Brockman, who had also joined Microsoft in the wake of the turbulence at OpenAI, said he would be getting straight back to coding.

While it is unclear exactly what led to Mr. Altman’s sudden departure from OpenAI, the board stressed his departure followed a “deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.”

“The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI,” the artificial intelligence company stated when announcing his firing on Nov. 17.

In a statement shared with The Verge, Thrive Capital, one of the biggest investors in OpenAI, called Mr. Altman’s return “the best outcome for the company, its employees, those who build on their technologies, and the world at large.”