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After 12 days of separation, unemployment and rumors, Sam Altman is back at OpenAI. In a November 29 memo to company employees, Sam Altman announced his return to his former post. In this Pooyan Music post, we will review the latest news and official statement from Sam Altman about his return to OpenAI.
According to the digital currency report and quoted from the official website of OpenAI, one of the founders of OpenAI, Sam Altman, has officially returned as the CEO of the company. In this way, he ended the whirlwind of several weeks caused by his sudden and unexpected and of course temporary departure.
In a Nov. 29 memo to OpenAI staff, Altman said interim CEO Mira Moratti has stepped down. And so, he returns to his previous role as Chief Technology Officer.
Altman also confirmed a “new initial board” with Salesforce CEO Brett Taylor as chairman, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo, CEO of social question-and-answer website Quora. D’Angelo was on OpenAI’s board of directors before the incident in mid-November. Greg Brockman will also resume his role as head of OpenAI.
“I’ve never been more excited about the future. I am very grateful for everyone’s efforts in an uncertain and unprecedented situation, and I believe that our flexibility and spirit set us apart in this industry. “I feel very good about our chances of success in achieving our mission,” Altman told employees.
Altman was notified that he would be reinstated as CEO on November 22, just two days after his initial ouster. At that time, he agreed to lead a new advanced artificial intelligence (AI) research team at Microsoft led by Satya Nadella. But with this news, apparently, that program faced problems.
Microsoft will also be included as a non-voting observer on the new board, Altman revealed.
“We clearly made the right choice in partnering with Microsoft, and I’m excited that our new board will have them as a non-voting observer,” he said.
The supervisor of the board of directors is a person who is allowed to attend and participate in the meetings of the board of directors, but as mentioned, he does not have the right to vote and acts more as a consultant.
Microsoft was not initially expected to take a seat at OpenAI, according to a Nov. 29 Reuters report, citing a person familiar with the matter.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has invested $13 billion in OpenAI, the creator of GPT chat, in several deals dating back to 2019.
Looking ahead, Altman said he will focus on advancing the company’s research agenda, improving products and better customer service as three top priorities for his (technically) second term as CEO.
In the same official announcement, Taylor emphasized that OpenAI will “strengthen the governance structure” with “a committee independent of the board of directors to oversee the review of recent events” to bring more stability to the company. He hopes that Microsoft’s addition to the board will help make the company more sustainable.
“From technology to safety to policy and so much more, we’re delighted that this board will have a non-voting observer for Microsoft on board,” he added.
