OpenAI has reinstated Sam Altman as CEO just days after his controversial ouster from the artificial intelligence firm. Altman’s swift return comes following mass employee protests over his firing. Hundreds of workers at the company had threatened to resign if the board did not bring Altman back and resign themselves.
Keypoints
- Sam Altman has been reinstated as CEO of OpenAI after being ousted last week
- His return sparked a 13% price surge for Worldcoin (WLD), which he co-founded
- OpenAI will have a new initial board consisting of Bret Taylor, Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo
- Altman said he’s looking forward to returning to OpenAI and building on their partnership with Microsoft
- Hundreds of OpenAI employees had threatened to quit if Altman wasn’t reinstated as CEO
Altman’s reinstatement sparked a 13% surge in prices for Worldcoin (WLD), the biometric ID project he co-founded in 2021. WLD jumped from $2.20 to around $2.50 on the news, recovering some losses from when Altman was first ousted on November 17th.
In a statement, OpenAI said they had “reached an agreement in principle for Sam Altman to return as CEO.” The company added that they will establish a new initial board consisting of Bret Taylor as Chairman as well as economists Larry Summers and Adam D’Angelo.
Altman said his temporary move to Microsoft, who invested billions in OpenAI, was “in service of keeping this team and mission together.” With the new OpenAI board structure and “Satya’s support,” referring to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Altman is now “looking forward to returning and building on our partnership.”
We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo.
We are collaborating to figure out the details. Thank you so much for your patience through this.
— OpenAI (@OpenAI) November 22, 2023
The past weeks’ chaos highlighted divides within OpenAI around balancing rapid AI development versus calls for more caution. As CEO, Altman pushed aggressively into new models like chatbot ChatGPT, whereas OpenAI’s original backers favored a more measured approach.
With Altman back as CEO, OpenAI will forge ahead with their AI research full steam. And with Microsoft still a major backer, OpenAI seems poised to drive even more breakthroughs in AI – albeit with more voices helping steer the ship.
