Source: OpenAI's board approached Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei about a potential merger as part of an effort to persuade Amodei to replace Sam Altman as CEO

OpenAI's board of directors approached Dario Amodei, the co-founder and CEO of rival large-language model developer Anthropic …

The Information 2023-11-21 Stephanie Palazzolo

Context & Ripple Effects

Anthropic emerged from an OpenAI leadership split: Dario Amodei founded the lab after serving as OpenAI’s VP of research, and it secured an early $580 million Series B to pursue large-scale models. That history made an outreach during OpenAI’s leadership rupture more than a routine executive search.

The episode also sits just before the reported plan to rebuild OpenAI’s board with up to nine formal directors, including continuity through Adam D’Angelo. Later coverage describes a durable OpenAI–Anthropic product and safety rivalry, rather than convergence between the two labs.

First-order effects

OpenAI’s board tested whether a rival lab’s CEO could become an alternative leader to Sam Altman, putting both a CEO succession and a possible merger into the same crisis-response process.
Anthropic and Amodei were immediately drawn into OpenAI’s governance turmoil, despite operating as an independent competitor.

Second-order effects

A merger or CEO switch, even if only explored, would have raised the prospect of consolidating two closely related frontier-model organizations and their research leadership.
The subsequent board-rebuilding process signaled that OpenAI’s governance structure—not just its chief executive—had become central to restoring organizational stability.

Third-order effects

The episode illustrates how governance shocks at frontier AI labs can quickly become competitive-market events, because a small pool of technical leaders can be consequential across rival organizations.
If this pattern persists, boards and backers may place greater weight on succession planning and institutional continuity, rather than treating model capability and executive leadership as separable risks.

The trend: Frontier AI competition is increasingly shaped by governance resilience and the mobility of a concentrated pool of technical leaders, alongside model performance.

Discussion

@lexnfx Alexei Oreskovic on x
Hello Dario? You want this CEO gig? No? Ok, can you put Daniela on the phone?
@nealkhosla Neal Khosla on x
everytime I think this board can't be more of a group of clowns...
@amir Amir Efrati on x
New new new: Before the OpenAI employee revolt blew up, OpenAI considered a merger with... Anthropic! Anthropic was an archrival, personal animus between Amodei and Altman. https://www.theinformation.com/ ... @steph_palazzolo [image]
@pitdesi Sheel Mohnot on x
This makes complete sense for what the board wanted to accomplish. The Anthropic team left because OpenAI was getting too commercial/close to Microsoft & is very EA connected/Doomerish.
@nmasc_ Natasha Mascarenhas on x
BREAKING: Anthropic was approached by OpenAI for a potential merger. The board did this as part of talks to convince Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei to join as interim chief executive of OpenAI — reports @steph_palazzolo https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
@kateclarktweets Kate Clark on x
If you're keeping track, the OpenAI board asked Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei, former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and Scale AI CEO Alex Wang to come aboard as Interim CEO. All declined. Former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear was named Interim CEO on Sunday night.
@quinnypig Corey Quinn on x
The OpenAI board has apparently been asking ChatGPT for its strategic advice, and also has mistaken a Magic 8 ball for ChatGPT while they were at it.
@anissagardizy8 Anissa Gardizy on x
🔥@steph_palazzolo with the OpenAI scoop of the day: OpenAI's board of directors approached Dario Amodei, the co-founder and CEO of rival large-language model developer Anthropic, about a potential merger of the two companies https://www.theinformation.com/ ... @theinformation
r/singularity r on reddit
OpenAI Approached Anthropic About Merger
r/technology r on reddit
OpenAI's Board Approached Anthropic About Merger
r/OpenAI r on reddit
After firing Sam Altman, OpenAI Approached Anthropic About Merger
r/ChatGPT r on reddit
The Board of Open AI approached Anthropic about a potential merger after dismissing Sam Altman
@omid @omid on x
Ooooh, new episode of @OpenAI is out
@bdsams Brad Sams on x
So he finds out that he was their third choice and it sounds like, he will be CEO for a couple days at most.
@tszzl Roon on x
more evidence this has absolutely nothing to do with ai safety. neither nat nor Alex have any particular allegiance to safety. please do not think of the board as ideological martyrs [image]
@amir Amir Efrati on x
New : Ex-GitHub chief @natfriedman said “no thanks” to OpenAI board effort to hire him at interim CEO this weekend. from @KateClarkTweets https://www.theinformation.com/ ... [image]
@mikehos3 Mike on threads
Emmett Shear is a terrible person and he already disgusts me.
@anthonymbeltran Anthony Beltran on threads
OpenAI's new interim CEO Emmett Shear has used X to post unfiltered thoughts on sexuality and criticize his new company's biggest backer https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@stokel Chris Stokel-Walker on x
The OpenAI board appears to have skipped or sped up due diligence on their new CEO https://twitter.com/...
@mnmldmg Alex on x
This guy's gonna have the shortest tenure of a CEO in the history of Silicon Valley
@loganbartlett Logan Bartlett on x
I spent almost 3 hours with new OpenAI CEO Emmett Shear a few months ago when we recorded an episode for my podcast. In preparation for that discussion I listened every interview he's ever done and read anything I could find about him. You'll find a link to the podcast at the...
@nope_its_lily Lily on x
oh god the new ceo of openai is a true poaster
@chrmanning Christopher Manning on x
I've kept quiet on the @OpenAI fiasco, since I also don't know what's going on, 🤷 but I can't possibly support today's interim CEO—the below in a thread on “50/50 everyone gets paperclipped & dies”—or a residue board that believes in these EA-infused fantasy lands. HT @vkhosla.

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