Sources: Sam Altman's move to Microsoft is not a done deal; he and Brockman are open to returning to OpenAI if the remaining board members who fired him resign

Sam Altman's surprise move to Microsoft after his shock firing at OpenAI isn't a done deal. He and co-founder Greg Brockman …

The Verge 2023-11-21

Context & Ripple Effects

The leadership rupture followed Greg Brockman’s public departure and reports that OpenAI’s board had briefly considered stepping aside to enable a return. The new condition—remaining directors resigning—turns the dispute from a personnel decision into a test of who controls the organization’s governance.

Microsoft had been reported to be working with Thrive to restore Altman as CEO, while Altman and Brockman also explored a new venture. Those alternatives give the founders leverage, but leave OpenAI’s leadership and Microsoft’s immediate AI plans unsettled.

First-order effects

OpenAI faces continued operating uncertainty while Altman and Brockman condition a return on board turnover; the remaining directors become the immediate decision-makers.
Microsoft cannot treat its proposed role for Altman as settled, and Altman and Brockman retain multiple paths rather than committing to one employer or new company.

Second-order effects

The reported Microsoft and Thrive effort to reinstate Altman gains urgency: a board resolution could preserve OpenAI’s existing leadership arrangement, while failure would push talent and investor attention toward alternatives.
The possibility of a founder-led AI startup raises the cost of prolonged deadlock for OpenAI, because employees and backers may weigh competing leadership platforms.

Third-order effects

If governance disputes repeatedly determine the fate of key AI leaders, boards, investors, and strategic partners will face greater pressure to define decision rights before crises rather than after them.
The episode points to a durable tension in frontier AI: nonprofit-style oversight can constrain commercial leadership, but instability can also shift talent and product influence toward large platform partners.

The trend: Frontier-AI governance is becoming a competitive variable as leadership control, talent mobility, and platform partnerships increasingly intersect.

Discussion

@mranthropology Richard Stroffolino on threads
Not a done deal but they just want to confirm he has all the leverage rather than have it assumed
@mattyglesias Matthew Yglesias on x
Life lessons: — Don't invest capital in a company with weird governance unless you're prepared for weird shit to happen — Don't instigate drama without a plan to explain your side of the story to the public
@austen @austen on x
I can see why the big backers of OpenAI are frustrated right now. Going after the newly-appointed CEO for having had open-minded twitter conversations about obscure and taboo topics is not the solution.
@eladgil Elad Gil on x
At this point it seems very clear OpenAI board should merge with OpenTable to form OpenTableAI Brand matters #marketing #GrowthMindset
@gssp_acc @gssp_acc on x
We're all happy for Sam right now but when we come back to this in a year it will be apparent that OpenAI “merging” into Microsoft means AI just got a lot *more* closed-source, locked-in, data-farmed, corporately micro-managed, and government regulated
@dkthomp Derek Thompson on x
There is only one obvious winner of the last 100 hours, and it's business school professors who have been looking for a sexy anecdote to get students interested in the principle that corporate structure is really important [image]
@landay Dr. James Landay on x
Thoughts on the @OpenAI drama. Yet another reason we need academic AI centers like @stanfordhai—we can't leave the important issues in AI to industry players who have conflicting values they can't manage—as the outcome here shows, money wins in industry rather than good ideas.
@winnyeth Winny Dot Ethereum on x
honestly i think kris jenner should just be the openai ceo
@brenthoberman Brent Hoberman on x
On @OpenAI board structure. Governance gurus could look to the @guardian media group ownership by The Scott Trust (charity) for lessons. That business navigates the charity mission with the profit seeking nature of the business without as much management drama as OpenAI. Still...
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
One of the wilder things to me about this whole saga is that no investors in OpenAI have been told why Altman was fired by the board beyond the public statements, like nada
@matei_zaharia Matei Zaharia on x
Sad about the chaos around OpenAI, which was crazier than anyone imagined, and how it's affecting people, especially those on visas. I hope everyone lands on their feet!
@stevemoraco @stevemoraco on x
so openai blew up but we got SOTA open source image -> video and video -> text models!?! what a weekend.
@emollick Ethan Mollick on x
I have the growing feeling that the entire OpenAI debacle is going to be much less about four dimensional strategic chess and more about human mistakes, errors, confusion & conflicting motives. As it almost always is.
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
More: New CEO Emmett Shear has so far been unable to get written documentation of the board's reasons for firing Altman, which also haven't been shared with investors Employees responded to his announcement in OpenAI's Slack with a “fuck you” emoji https://www.theverge.com/...
@rikefranke Ulrike Franke on x
I have obviously no insights in what's going on at OpenAI but these are the same people who self-proclaim they are developing the most promising and possibly most dangerous technology ever. And they can't run a company. That's not comforting.
@wholemarsblog @wholemarsblog on x
Say what you want about the OpenAI board, but they've proven beyond doubt this past weekend that they are the only people on Earth who can be trusted to competently guide the development of this technology
@goodside Riley Goodside on x
A belated ❤️ for @sama, @gdb, @miramurati, @karpathy, @BorisMPower, @AndrewMayne, and too many others to name at OpenAI. Your work has changed my life and I'm sure countless more. Whatever happens, we're lucky to have such talented people bringing the world closer to AGI.
@gdb Greg Brockman on x
💯 Cannot overstate the level of pride & respect I feel for @miramurati @bradlightcap @jasonkwon and the rest of the leadership team for their response to this crisis. One team, one mission.
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
Breaking with @reckless: Sam Altman and Greg Brockman's move to Microsoft isn't a done deal. They are still plotting a return to OpenAI. Pressure is on the board to still resign gracefully after the flipping of Ilya Sutskever last night https://www.theverge.com/...
@eriqgardner Eriq Gardner on x
Saul Goodman is doing a hell of a job lawyering this one.
@zeitchikwapo Steven Zeitchik on x
You've got to be kidding me https://www.theverge.com/...
@anothercohen Alex Cohen on x
Following [image]
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
Exhibit A: you don't say this when you are for sure going to Microsoft
r/ChatGPT r on reddit
Here's A Full Recap of EVERYTHING At OpenAI Over the Last 83 Hours
r/singularity r on reddit
Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO
r/technology r on reddit
Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO
r/OpenAI r on reddit
Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

Chronicles