In a significant development at OpenAI, Sam Altman has announced his return as the chief executive officer (CEO), marking a notable shift in the company's leadership.
Alongside this change, Mira Murati will resume her position as the chief technology officer (CTO), and Greg Brockman will continue as president.
The new initial board will comprise Bret Taylor as chair, joined by Larry Summers and Adam D’Angelo.
Taylor was previously the co-CEO of Salesforce, Summers is former US Treasury secretary and D'Angelo is a key figure from the original board that decided to remove Altman.
Altman highlighted the support from partners like Satya Nadella, Kevin Scott, Amy Hood and Brad Smith at Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), and the inclusion of Microsoft as a non-voting observer on the new board.
Earlier this month, Altman was ousted from his position because "the board no longer has confidence in his ability" to continue leading OpenAI.
Sam Altman is back as CEO, Mira Murati as CTO and Greg Brockman as President. OpenAI has a new initial board. Messages from @sama and board chair @btaylor https://t.co/sP0kAQIeKg— OpenAI (@OpenAI) November 30, 2023
"Extremely grateful"
In a blogpost, Altman expressed his enthusiasm stating: "I have never been more excited about the future.
"I am extremely grateful for everyone’s hard work in an unclear and unprecedented situation, and I believe our resilience and spirit set us apart in the industry."
He acknowledged the importance of Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI's co-founder, highlighting their intention to maintain a working relationship despite Sutskever no longer serving on the board.
Altman specifically praised Mira Murati for her exceptional leadership and integral role in OpenAI's success.
"Mira did an amazing job throughout all of this, serving the mission, the team and the company selflessly throughout," he said
The best interests of the company and the mission always come first. It is clear that there were real misunderstandings between me and members of the board. For my part, it is incredibly important to learn from this experience and apply those learnings as we move forward as a…— Sam Altman (@sama) November 30, 2023
Three immediate priorities
Altman outlined three immediate priorities for OpenAI:
- advancing research and safety efforts;
- enhancing product deployment; and
- improving governance structure.
He concluded with optimism for the mission ahead: "I am so looking forward to finishing the job of building beneficial AGI with you all—best team in the world, best mission in the world."