OpenAI's board fired Sam Altman on 17 November 2023, saying he had not been consistently candid with directors. Staff threatened to quit, Microsoft offered him…
Two years later OpenAI Group PBC was placed under the nonprofit OpenAI Foundation, which appoints its board. Microsoft holds about 27%, press reports say.
WilmerHale reviewed over 30,000 documents. It found the board acted within its discretion, but Altman's conduct did not mandate removal, and safety and finances were not…
Bret Taylor chaired a board with Larry Summers and Adam D'Angelo. Microsoft got a non-voting observer role, Murati returned as CTO and Brockman as president.
OpenAI announced an agreement in principle late on 21 November US time (22 November elsewhere) for Altman to return under a new board and an independent investigation.
Satya Nadella said Altman and Greg Brockman would lead a new advanced AI research team at Microsoft, while staying committed to the OpenAI partnership.
More than 700 of about 770 employees backed a letter calling for the board to go and Altman to return. Ilya Sutskever signed and said he regretted his role.
Mira Murati was interim CEO for two days. Then the board named Emmett Shear, the former Twitch chief, instead of reinstating Altman.
The board said he had not been consistently candid in his communications with directors. Greg Brockman left the board and then the company.
OpenAI began as a nonprofit with a mission to benefit humanity, and kept nonprofit control even after adding a capped-profit arm in 2019.
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