In a dramatic turn of events late Friday, former Y Combinator CEO Sam Altman was ousted from his position as CEO of AI startup OpenAI, the company behind viral AI successes like ChatGPT, GPT-4, and DALL-E 3, by the board of OpenAI management. Subsequently, the company’s president and co-founder, Greg Brockman, resigned, as did three of OpenAI’s senior researchers. The repercussions continue.
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It’s a fast-moving situation and we’re still trying to get to the bottom of it. No doubt more will become clear over time. To make it easier to keep track of everything that’s happened in the meantime, we’ve put together a timeline; We will do our best to keep it updated.
Timeline for Sam Altman’s firing from OpenAI
November 29
Microsoft gets a board monitor
OpenAI announced that Microsoft will have representation on the new initial board of directors in the form of a non-voting observer. It was not immediately clear who that observer would be, only that they would not have a formal vote in board business.
November 21
Sam Altman and OpenAI have reached an agreement on a return to the CEO role and a new “primary” board of directors.
In a surprise late announcement, OpenAI revealed that it and Altman had “reached an agreement in principle” for him to return as CEO of the company. In addition to Altman’s return, its new “seed” board will include former Salesforce CEO Brett Taylor, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and Quora founder Adam D’Angelo.
Altman also posted about the New Deal, which gives an idea of the roller coaster we’ve all been riding since his firing was revealed on Friday. As he put it, his decision to join Microsoft on Sunday “was the best path for me and the team.” Since then, it appears that a new board and Microsoft’s support were enough to bring him back to the AI company he co-founded.
Altman and the council are in talks
The OpenAI board is reportedly in talks with Sam Altman, former head of Y Combinator and co-founder of OpenAI, to return to OpenAI as CEO as soon as this week. That’s according to Bloomberg, which said in a brief — citing sources close to the matter — that discussions are taking place between Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, a current OpenAI board member, and Altman — and possibly other board members as well.
Tensions on the board are boiling
New York times Reports that before his ouster, Sam Altman took the step of expelling board member Helen Toner because he thought the paper she co-wrote was overly critical of OpenAI. This, among other things, has led to OpenAI’s current predicament. Speaking of which, the Times reports that negotiations to reappoint Altman are continuing — but one major sticking point remains: “guardrails” intended to improve Altman’s communications with the board.
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November 20
Altman joins Microsoft
Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and colleagues announced that they will join Microsoft to lead a new artificial intelligence research team. Nadella is leaving the door open for other OpenAI employees, saying they will get the resources they need if they choose to join.
Sutskever’s me culpa
Sutskever makes a post on X indicating that he regrets his decision to fire Altman and that he will do everything in his power to restore Altman as CEO.
Employees threaten to quit
Nearly 500 of OpenAI’s roughly 770 employees — including, significantly, Sutskever — Publish A letter stating that they may resign unless the startup’s board of directors resigns and reappoints the ousted Altman. Later on Monday, that number rose to more than 650.
Altman and Brockman are considering a return
like mentioned By The Verge, Altman’s move to Microsoft isn’t a done deal — and both Altman and Brockman remain open to returning to OpenAI. That is, if the rest of the board members who initially fired him step down.
OpenAI’s board is considering a merger
OpenAI’s board has approached Dario Amodei, co-founder and CEO of large language modeling competitor Anthropic, about a potential merger between the two companies, The Information Reports. This approach was part of OpenAI’s efforts to convince Amodei to replace Altman as CEO — but Amodei quickly rejected the CEO’s offer.
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November 19
Altman meets at OpenAI headquarters
According to the information, Altman is expected to meet at OpenAI’s San Francisco headquarters as OpenAI executives seek to reinstate him as CEO. Brockman has been invited to join — but it’s unclear whether executives will take up that invitation.
Board negotiations hit a snag
Bloomberg Reports That Lightcap and Murati, among others, are lobbying the board to reinstate Altman. But it is not surprising that directors resist. As of midday Sunday, the board had not resigned out of concern about who could replace him, and were vetting candidates. One potential new addition could be Salesforce co-CEO Brett Taylor.
Altman comes out, Scheer comes in
Altman will not return as CEO, according to A.J a report In the information citing an internal memo sent by Sutskever. As the search for a new permanent CEO continues, OpenAI has appointed Emmett Sherr, co-founder of video streaming site Twitch, as interim CEO – replacing Moratti.
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November 18
“No…in response to the violations.”
In an internal memo Acquired By Axios Sent on Saturday morning Brad Lightcap, OpenAI’s COO, said yesterday’s announcement “made a decision [the management team] “By surprise” and that management had “multiple conversations with the board to try to better understand the reasons and processes behind their decision.” Discussions were continuing until Saturday morning, according to the memo.
“We can categorically say that the Board’s decision was not made in response to wrongdoing or anything related to our financial, business, safety, or security/privacy practices,” Lightcap added. “This was a breakdown in communication between Sam and the Board… We continue to share your concerns about how the process was handled, are working to resolve the situation, and will provide updates as we are able.”
OpenAI’s funding is at risk
A planned sale of OpenAI employee stock that would value the startup at about $86 billion could be in jeopardy. Information, I spoke to three sources previously with the company, Reports They no longer expect the sale – led by Thrive Capital – to happen or, if it does, to come at a lower valuation due to the recent turn of events.
Altman is planning a new project
Altman has told investors that he plans to launch a new venture, According to To the information. Brockman is expected to join the effort, whatever form it takes. (maybe Start the AI chip.)
Investors are pushing for Altman’s return
Investors – angry at the turn of events – are said to be putting pressure on OpenAI’s board to reinstate Altman, going so far as to hire Microsoft. Nadella is said to be sympathetic.
The board agrees to reverse course – in principle
the edge Reports The Board of Directors agreed in principle to resign and allow Altman and Brockman to return. However, it missed yesterday’s deadline by which several OpenAI employees were scheduled to leave the company. Altman is said to be ambivalent about returning and demanding “major” changes to the administration.
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November 17
Brockman was demoted
Brockman says he received a text from Sutskever shortly after noon Friday asking for a quick call. After sending the Google Meet link, Brockman was told that he had been removed from the board as chairman “but was vital to the company and would retain his role” as chairman, and that Altman had been fired.
Altman’s firing was publicly announced
OpenAI published a post on its blog advertisement Executive tremor. The company’s management team was aware of this soon after.
A meeting with all hands
OpenAI held an all-hands meeting on Friday afternoon during which Sutskever defended Altman’s ouster. He rejected suggestions that Altman’s firing amounted to a “hostile power grab.” claimed That it was necessary to protect OpenAI’s mission of “making AI useful to humanity.”
Microsoft issues a statement
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, a major investor in — and partner with — OpenAI, published an article statement About Altman’s firing:
“As you saw in Microsoft Ignite this week, we continue to innovate rapidly for this age of AI, with more than 100 announcements across the full technology stack from AI systems, models, and tools in Azure to Copilot. Most importantly, we are committed to delivering all of this to our customers while “Building for the future. We have a long-term agreement with OpenAI with full access to everything we need to deliver on our innovation agenda and exciting product roadmap; we remain committed to our partnership, to Mira and the team. Together, we will continue to deliver the meaningful benefits of this technology to the world.”
Brockman resigns
Brockman announced his resignation from OpenAI, citing Today’s News. After sending a memo internally, he posted the text on X.
Senior OpenAI researchers resign
Three senior researchers at OpenAI resigned after Brockman, including research director Jakub Paczucki and head of preparedness Alexander Madry.
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November 16
Ilya Sutskever schedules a call with Altman
According to a post on X (formerly Twitter) from Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s chief scientist and co-founder, texted Altman on Thursday evening about scheduling a call for Friday afternoon.
Moratti spoke about Altman’s firing
Brockman claims that Mira Moratti, OpenAI’s CTO and now interim CEO, was informed Thursday night that Altman would be fired.