The soap opera is finally ending OpenAIwith Sam Altman returns to the company as CEO. Greg Brockman also returns to himalthough it is still unclear whether he will continue as its president, and there will be changes to the board of directors.

Altman himself has been in charge of confirming the news through his social media, making sure that when he decided to join Microsoft these days, it was the best way for him and the team given the situation. But now “with a new record and with the support of Satya«, hopes to return to OpenAI, and «growth due to our strong agreement with Microsoft«.

i love openai and everything i’ve done in the last few days has been to keep this team and its mission together. when i decided to join msft on a sunny evening, it was clear that it was the best way for me and the team. with a new board and support w satya i am…

—Sam Altman (@sama) November 22, 2023

These statements suggest that Microsoft will now have a more prominent role than it had in OpenAI. Not only will he be its majority shareholder and inject capital, but he will also have quite a say. It is possible that they will do so through the board, which will see various changes from now on, but it is not yet clear. So far, company CEO Satya Nadella has also offered a conciliatory message on social media, quoting Sam Altman:

We are encouraged by the changes on the OpenAI board. We believe that this is the first essential step on the way to a more stable, informed and efficient administration. Sam, Greg and I spoke and agreed that they play a key role along with the OAI leadership team in ensuring… https://t.co/djO6Fuz6t9

— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) November 22, 2023

Nadella points out that they are encouraged «due to changes in the OpenAI board of directors«. At Microsoft, they see it as “a necessary first step on the way to a more stable, informed and effective governance of public affairs«. He also points out that he spoke to Sam and Greg and agreed.who play a key role in the OpenAI leadership team to ensure that OpenAI continues to shine and grow from its mission. We look forward to growing from our strong partnership and delivering the value of this next generation of AI to our customers and partners.«.

As for the changes to the board, according to Axios, the first involves the departure of three of its members. CESO of the company Ilya Sutskever and two of its independent directors Tasha Mckauley and Helen Toner. Adam D’Angelo will remain on the board, they said, to ensure representation from the previous board.

Former Salesforce CEO Bret Taylor will become the new chairman of the boardand former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers also enters it. The interim CEO they appointed last Sunday, Emmet Shear, is also leaving the company.

There aren’t many details about the future board yet, other than that it will have nine members going forward. It is possible that Altman will end up being one of them, and also that Microsoft will have a position of its own, given that it has 49% of the company’s shares and has invested a significant amount of money in it, in addition to signing several cooperation agreements with the people in charge.

On the other hand, the agreement includes launching an independent investigation into everything that happened and the events that led to Altman’s dismissal. Because they are still unknown. the real reasons that caused him to leave. Except the board pointed out that he hadn’t been completely honest with them, though hours later they qualified it to emphasize that he had committed no wrongdoing.

Everything points to that the key to finally making these changes happen was a publication letter from OpenAI staff to the board. In it, they threatened to go to Microsoft with Sam Altman if he didn’t come back and if the board that kicked him out followed. Originally signed by 490 employees, with Mira Murati and Ilya Sutskever among the first signatories, it was later signed by 95% of the company’s employees.

Sam Altman planned to campaign for its return, but he didn’t expect the overwhelming support he received from the OpenAI staff. Apparently, they didn’t expect it even on the board, which had no choice but to bow to the conditions that Altman and probably Satya Nadella had set for themselves. In addition to Microsoft, at least two other shareholders, Thrive Capital and Khosla Ventures, lobbied for Altman’s return.

While the waters at the company seem to have calmed down, we’ll have to keep an eye on what’s going on in the company as deals are still pending in various places. Among them, how the company should operate from now on and what board members will be missing until the nine seats it will have are finalized.

Photo: Village Global