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OpenAI says Altman to return as CEO with new members on the board

  • Sam Altman, who was fired by OpenAI on Friday, is returning to his role as CEO, the start-up says
  • The new board will be chaired by former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor and include former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers

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Sam Altman is once again CEO of OpenAI after a surprise ousting last Friday. Photo: Getty Images/TNS
Bloomberg

OpenAI will bring back Sam Altman and appoint new board members, after nearly all of its employees threatened to quit over his surprise ousting.

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Altman is returning to his role as CEO and the new board will be chaired by former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor and include former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers and Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, the company said in a post on X, formerly Twitter. It is working “to figure out the details”, the message said.

OpenAI fired Altman on Friday, and since then investors have been agitating for his return. Microsoft, which offered to hire Altman, has said it is amenable to him returning to the ChatGPT creator as long as certain criteria are met. The software giant wants to sort out what it sees as the governance issues that led the existing OpenAI board to fire Altman.

The changes Microsoft is considering may include asking OpenAI to increase the size of the board and boost the experience level required for members, according to people familiar with the company’s thinking, who asked not to be identified discussing private talks.

Microsoft’s deal with the artificial intelligence (AI) firm already required the start-up’s board to seek Microsoft approval for a merger, something which did not occur this past weekend when the OpenAI board sought to merge with rival AI start-up Anthropic, said the people. Microsoft will look to shore up those protections and add to the number of scenarios where it has either veto or at least notification rights.
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Microsoft, which has put about US$13 billion into OpenAI, is largely waiting for a new board to emerge to discuss the changes, the people said.

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