In the corporate equivalent of a Shakespearean drama complete with an ousted ruler, a surprise interim king, and an unexpected return, OpenAI’s board has reinstated Sam Altman as chief executive just five days after unceremoniously showing him the door for nebulous reasons that they have yet to properly define.
Altman, who might have spent the weekend updating his LinkedIn with cautious optimism, returns to the helm alongside a notably spruced-up board. The previous board, which had all the subtlety of a soap opera twist, is now out save for Adam D’Angelo, the Quora CEO who apparently survived both the original purge and the counter-purge. Joining the new cast are heavy-hitters Bret Taylor, the former co-CEO of Salesforce who seems to collect powerful job titles like others collect frequent flyer miles, and Larry Summers, the former Treasury Secretary who may well own a Harvard hoodie and a crystal ball.
The decision to bring back Altman appears to have come after OpenAI employees made it spectacularly clear that they were not, in fact, excited by the idea of his removal. Nearly all of the company’s 770 staff signed a letter threatening to quit and follow Altman to Microsoft, a company now playing the part of OpenAI’s friendly ex who is just a little too accommodating. Microsoft, OpenAI’s largest investor, perhaps sensing the plot was getting out of hand, was reportedly “very pleased” with Altman’s return, which is tech executive speak for sighing deeply and muttering that this is why we cannot have nice things.
Meanwhile, Mira Murati, who was briefly acting CEO and looked like she might have been handed the wheel of the Titanic mid-iceberg, will go back to her role as chief technology officer. Emmett Shear, the interim interim CEO—yes, there were two in a week—has confirmed his departure from a position he barely had time to personalize beyond setting up email forwarding. Shear, in a gesture of remarkable clarity, remarked in a blog post that bringing Altman back and changing the board were the best outcome for the company and possibly his sanity.
As part of this blink-and-you-missed-it executive speedrun, Altman expressed enthusiasm about returning, saying in a statement that he is “looking forward to building on our strong partnership with Microsoft” and working under the guidance of the newly enlightened board. Employees, relieved that the company is no longer lurching toward chaos like a self-driving car in beta, appear ready to get back to the casual business of shaping humanity’s AI-infused future.
After all the exits and entrances, OpenAI now finds itself where it began: with Sam Altman in charge, a new board in place, and the rest of Silicon Valley watching wide-eyed and whispering, “Are they going to do that again?”
The boardroom might have stumbled, but at least the robots weren’t in charge—yet.