By Enyichukwu Enemanna
Days after he was sacked by OpenAI, a company they co-founded, Sam Altman has been engaged by tech giant, Microsoft to lead a team conducting artificial intelligence research.
Also hired by Microsoft is Greg Brockman.
Announcing the development on Monday in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said that Altman and 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,” he added.
Altman retweeted Nadella’s post on Monday, adding: “The mission continues.”
The move follows a dramatic weekend in which Altman was abruptly sacked from OpenAI by the company’s board on Friday.
He and Brockman, who quit soon after, were subsequently in talks to rejoin OpenAI, but these fell through late on Sunday.
According to sources familiar with the matter, Altman was ousted because of concerns about his commitment to OpenAI’s mission of ensuring safe and beneficial AI.
A person with direct knowledge of the board’s decision said it had become “impossible to oversee” the co-founder.
“There was no one big problem,” the person added. “The board reached the point where they couldn’t believe what Sam told them.”
Employees at OpenAI had rallied behind Altman over the weekend, while leading investors in the company, including Microsoft and top venture firms such as Thrive Capital and Khosla Ventures, had explored the possibility of reinstating him to his former role.
According to one source close to the company, some other employees concerned about AI safety were pleased with the decision to replace Altman.
On Sunday, the OpenAI board announced Emmett Shear, co-founder of video streaming service Twitch, as interim chief executive.
Shear, who has publicly advocated for a slower rollout of AI, wrote on X on Monday: “I took this job because I believe that OpenAI is one of the most important companies currently in existence.
“Before I took the job, I checked on the reasoning behind the change,” he added. “The board did *not* remove Sam over any specific disagreement on safety, their reasoning was completely different from that. I’m not crazy enough to take this job without board support for commercialising our awesome models.”
Within hours of Shear’s appointment, Nadella announced Microsoft had swooped to recruit Altman and Brockman.
