Fired and then rehired: The many twists and turns in Sam Altman-OpenAI saga

Forget your K-dramas or saas-bahu serials. If you are yearning for drama, the tech world is where you need to turn your attention. It’s been a few days of chaos and upheaval at OpenAI, the makers of ChatGPT, following the firing and now re-hiring of its CEO – Sam Altman. On 22 November, OpenAI in a statement said that it has an “agreement in principle” for Altman to return alongside a new board composed of Bret Taylor, Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo. “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,” wrote OpenAI on its official account on X. But a lot has happened since his initial sacking on late Friday night. If you are trying to catch up on what has gone down since then or just catching your breath, here’s a rundown of everything that’s happened. After all, OpenAI’s ChatGPT isn’t able to give us the summary. 17 November – Altman’s Fired Drama began to unfold at the San Francisco-centred firm when OpenAI’s board of directors put out a statement that Sam Altman would step down as CEO and leave the board of directors.” The board had then said that it no longer had “confidence in his ability to continue leading.” In the same announcement, it was also said OpenAI’s CTO Mira Murati would also serve as the CEO of the company.

Later that day, the board also said that Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president, “will be stepping down as chairman of the board and will remain in his role at the company, reporting to the CEO.” To this, Brockman said in a post on X that he and Altman were “shocked and saddened by what the board did.” At the time of his firing, the 38-year-old Altman had acknowledge his exit, but said nothing about the board’s accusations.

Interestingly, Brockman in an elaborate post on X revealed the chain of events that led to his ouster. He wrote that Altman had received a text from board member Ilya Sutskever asking to talk at midday Friday. When Altman joined the meeting, the whole board, excluding Brockman, was on the call and he was told by Sutskever he was being fired. Satya-Nadella-led Microsoft, which is a major investor in – and partner with – OpenAI, reacting to Altman’s firing said: “As you saw at Microsoft Ignite this week, we’re continuing to rapidly innovate for this era of AI, with over 100 announcements across the full tech stack from AI systems, models and tools in Azure, to Copilot. Most importantly, we’re committed to delivering all of this to our customers while building for the future. We have a long-term agreement with OpenAI with full access to everything we need to deliver on our innovation agenda and an exciting product roadmap; and remain committed to our partnership, and to Mira and the team. Together, we will continue to deliver the meaningful benefits of this technology to the world.” Beyond Altman and Brockman, it was reported that three senior researchers at OpenAI were resigning: Jakob Pachocki, director for research; Aleksander Madry, who was heading a team looking at the potential risks of AI; and Simon Sidor, a researcher with seven years under his belt at OpenAI. [caption id=“attachment_13418052” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, was in a surprise move sacked on 17 November. It is reported that board member Ilya Sutskever had asked him to step down. File image/Reuters[/caption] 18 November – Drama unfolds The day after Altman’s firing, an internal memo sent to staffers at OpenAI revealed the reason behind the move. OpenAI’s chief operating officer Brad Lightcap while terming the move to be a surprise, also put a stop to rumours that something more sinister lurked behind Altman’s firing, saying the board’s decision “was not made in response to malfeasance or anything related to our financial, business, safety, or security/privacy practices.” Simultaneously, Altman suggested that he was planning to launch a new venture. Meanwhile, at OpenAI, the move to bring Altman and Brockman back began to gather steam, with even employees threatening to quit if the former CEO was not reinstated. 19 November – Negotiations continue to get Altman back On Sunday, negotiations to reinstate Altman continued with the 38-year old himself posting this message on X: “I love the openai team so much.” A New York Times report stated that negotiations had focused on how OpenAI’s board of directors might be restructured. Also, they were discussing who would replace the members who had decided to fire Altman if they stepped down themselves. The New York Times further reported that Boba tea and McDonald’s were on the menu for the negotiating parties. However, by Sunday night, it appeared that no breakthrough could be achieved with OpenAI board members Sutskever, Adam D’Angelo, Helen Toner, and Tasha McCauley reaffirming their decision to fire Altman, saying it was “the only path to advance and defend the mission of OpenAI.” They continued: “Put simply, Sam’s behaviour and lack of transparency in his interactions with the board undermined the board’s ability to effectively supervise the company in the manner it was mandated to do.” [caption id=“attachment_13418102” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] A twist emerged in the saga when Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that Sam Altman would be joining the company’s new advanced AI research team. File image/AFP[/caption] 20 November – A new beginning Early in the day, Altman posted an image of him, indicating that his return to OpenAI seemed unlikely.

In the hours that followed, a twist emerged in this drama when Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that Altman, Brockman, and other OpenAI employees will be joining the company’s new advanced AI research team. Nadella added that Altman will serve as the CEO of the new advanced AI research team.

Simultaneously, as this news broke, Twitch co-founder Emmet Shear took to X to announce that he got a call inviting him to “consider a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity” to become the interim CEO of OpenAI. Notably, on this day, Sutskever also expressed his regret for participating in the board’s decision to remove Altman and vowed to do everything in his power to reunite the company. Other employees at OpenAI also penned a letter, issuing an ultimatum to the remaining board members of OpenAI asking them to either step down from their positions or face a mass exodus of OpenAI staff to Sam Altman’s new venture at Microsoft. 21 November – It’s not a done deal yet But if you think that it was all a done deal, think again. The Verge reported that Altman and Brockman were considering going back to OpenAI if the board members who ousted Altman stepped down. At the same time, Nadella also indicated openness to Altman’s return to OpenAI, rather than joining Microsoft as initially announced. “Irrespective of where Sam is, he’s working with Microsoft,” Nadella then said. [caption id=“attachment_13418112” align=“alignnone” width=“640”] Sam Altman’s return to OpenAI caps the end of chaos and turmoil at the company, which is responsible for for ChatGPT. File image/Reuters[/caption] 22 November – He’s back! Things took another turn when OpenAI announced the return of Sam Altman. If official, he will be OpenAI’s fourth CEO in five days. Shortly after the announcement, both Altman and Brockman posted the news on their X profiles. Altman wrote, “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 (Microsoft) 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 looking forward to returning to openai, and building on our strong partnership with msft.” Brockman, on the other hand, posted this image.

Reacting to all the twists and turns in this saga, Helen Toner, who was a key board member in the initial move to oust Altman, simply said: “And now, we all get some sleep.” No one knows what will happen next – not even ChatGPT – but we do know that this will be remembered for a long time in the world of tech. With inputs from agencies