Sam Altman during the APEC CEO Summit in San Francisco, California.
Justin Sullivan/Getty Images
Sam Altman is returning as the CEO of OpenAI.He was fired from the job on Friday, kicking off a weekend of chaos in Silicon Valley.OpenAI said they’d have a new initial board of Bret Taylor, Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo.
Sam Altman is set to return as OpenAI’s CEO.
The ChatGPT maker announced Altman’s return in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Wednesday morning. OpenAI said they “reached an agreement in principle” for Altman’s return.
The company also announced it will welcome “a new initial board” consisting of Bret Taylor, Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo. Taylor, a former Salesforce executive, will serve as board chair.
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 news comes after a chaotic weekend in Silicon Valley.
Altman was fired as OpenAI’s CEO on Friday. OpenAI’s board said in a statement that Altman “was not consistently candid in his communications with the board” but did not give further details.
His return to the job comes just days after Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said Altman will be leading Microsoft’s new advanced AI research team.
Shortly after OpenAI broke the news, Altman wrote on X that when he decided to join Microsoft, he thought “it was clear that was the best path for me and the team.”
“with the new board and w satya’s support, i’m looking forward to returning to openai, and building on our strong partnership with msft,” Altman continued.
i love openai, and everything i’ve done over the past few days has been in service of keeping this team and its mission together. when i decided to join msft on sun evening, it was clear that was the best path for me and the team. with the new board and w satya’s support, i’m…
— Sam Altman (@sama) November 22, 2023
Nadella has also commented on Altman’s return, writing that they are “encouraged by the changes to the OpenAI board.”
“We believe this is a first essential step on a path to more stable, well-informed, and effective governance,” Nadella wrote.
Representatives for OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.
November 23, 3:03 p.m. — This story has been updated to reflect Sam Altman and Satya Nadella’s comments on X.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.