What you need to know
- Microsoft announced that it is hiring Sam Altman, ex-CEO of OpenAI.
- Altman was fired by OpenAI last week after the board said they had lost confidence in his leadership.
- Altman will be joined by Greg Brockman to lead a new AI research team at Microsoft.
- Updated November 20, 2023 at 9:22 AM ET: Altman be the CEO of the new advanced AI research team.
- Updated November 20, 2023 at 9:36 AM ET: Over 500 OpenAI employees have said that they will leave OpenAI and that "Microsoft has assured us that there are positions for all OpenAI employees at this new subsidiary should we choose to join."
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has announced in a post on X that the company is hiring Sam Altman, previously CEO at OpenAI to lead a new AI research team alongside Greg Brockman, co-founder of OpenAI.
The news comes after a whirlwind weekend of news, which started on Friday when Sam Altman was fired by OpenAI's board of directors. The board says they lost confidence in Altman's leadership, which led to him being fired and Brockman stepping down as president at OpenAI.
Nadella's statement on Microsoft's current partnership with OpenAI, and the hiring of Altman and Brockman said the following:
"We remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and have confidence in our product roadmap, our ability to continue to innovate with everything we announced at Microsoft Ignite, and in continuing to support our customers and partners. We look forward to getting to know Emmett Shear and OAI's new leadership team and working with them. And we’re extremely excited to share the news that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, together with colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team. We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success."
OpenAI has appointed two interim CEOs in the last two days after it fired Altman on Friday, starting with Mira Murati, before former Twitch CEO Emmett Sheer took over as OpenAI's interim CEO this morning. OpenAI's board of directors were considering reinstating Altman after it was reported that Microsoft was unhappy with the decision to oust him.
However, it appears the board remains committed to its decision, and has placed Sheer in the CEO chair instead of reinstating Altman. As a result, Microsoft has chosen to hire Altman for their own AI research team, with Brockman joining along with other colleagues.
Microsoft has had a close partnership with Sam Altman since the company began using OpenAI tech in its own services. Microsoft has invested $10 billion in OpenAI over the last couple of years and is planning to continue that partnership even with Altman joining the company.
OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman's given CEO title
As mentioned above, Altman will "lead a new advanced AI research team," according to Microsoft's CEO. Altman will spearhead those efforts alongside Brockman. Since Nadella's initial announcement of Altman and Brockman joining Microsoft, some other pieces of information have trickled out that give us a glimpse of how big this shift will be.
Since the initial announcement, it was confirmed that Altman will be CEO of the advanced AI research team. Generally, Microsoft reserves CEO roles for those who lead large businesses within the company. For example, Phil Spencer was made Microsoft Gaming CEO in January 2022.
the mission continues
Sam Altman
Altman confirmed that he's joining Microsoft by quoting Nadella and adding "the mission continues." Joining Altman on that mission will be several former OpenAI employees that jumped over to Microsoft alongside Altman and Brockman.
Jakub Pachocki, director of research at OpenAI, will join Microsoft's advanced AI research team. Szymon Sidor, an OpenAI research scientist, and Aleksander Madry, OpenAI's head of preparedness will also join that team, though their roles were not specified.
We are going to build something new & it will be incredible.Initial leadership (more soon): @merettm @sidorszymon @aleks_madry @sama @gdbThe mission continues. https://t.co/oAerJnMYQmNovember 20, 2023
Brockman expressed excitement about joining Microsoft while listing the initial leadership of the advanced AI team. He alluded to more leadership announcements coming in the future, so we'll update this post as more information becomes available.
Over 500 OpenAI employees may leave for Microsoft
Altman and Brockman will likely be just the first of many OpenAI employees to leave the company and jump over to Microsoft. Wired and journalist Kara Swisher reported on a letter from OpenAI employees telling the company that hundreds of employees may resign if certain actions are not taken.
505 out of OpenAI's 700 employees plan to resign unless all current OpenAI board members resign. The letter also calls for the board appointing two new lead independent directors and the reinstatement of Sam Altman and Greg Brockman.
Breaking: 505 of 700 employees @OpenAI tell the board to resign. pic.twitter.com/M4D0RX3Q7aNovember 20, 2023
Considering that Altman has already confirmed that he will lead the new advanced AI research group at Microsoft, it appears unlikely that the demands of the OpenAI employees will be met. There's a good chance the letter was written before Altman joined Microsoft and that any hope of retaining the employees is gone.
"Microsoft has assured us that there are positions for all OpenAI employees at this new subsidiary should we choose to join," said the employees.
