Sam Altman, Greg Brockman to join Microsoft: Satya Nadella

OpenAI’s Sam Altman and Greg Brockman will join Microsoft in what is the most recent twist in the saga that commenced with the unexpected termination of Altman.

“Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, together with colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team,” said Satya Nadella, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Microsoft, in a post on the social media platform X (formerly Twitter).

“We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success,” Nadella added.

Microsoft has been betting big on artificial intelligence (AI) and has invested billions of dollars, including in OpenAI, to accelerate AI breakthroughs.

Commenting on Nadella’s post on X, Altman wrote: “the mission continues”

“I’m super excited to have you join as CEO of this new group, Sam, setting a new pace for innovation,” Nadella added.

Earlier, a media report noted that Altman will not return as the CEO of the company despite attempts made by the firm’s executives to bring him back. Emmett Shear, Co-founder of Amazon-owned video streaming site Twitch, will take over as interim CEO, The Information reported.

YourStory has reached out to OpenAI for comments.

Shear, a computer scientist who dedicated over a decade to developing Twitch into one of the world’s most successful video streaming platforms, resigned from the position of CEO earlier this year.

“We remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and have confidence in our product roadmap, our ability to continue to innovate with everything we announced at Microsoft Ignite, and in continuing to support our customers and partners. We look forward to getting to know Emmett Shear and OAI's new leadership team and working with them,” Nadella wrote.

On Friday, the ChatGPT-maker announced Altman’s surprise departure as CEO from the company and the appointment of OpenAI’s Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati as interim CEO.

Open AI, in a blog post, noted that Altman was let go on grounds of not being consistently open in his communication with the board.

After Altman was fired, executives and investors, including Microsoft, advocated for the board’s resignation and sought the reinstatement of Altman as the chief.

Recently, Altman shared a picture of himself wearing an OpenAI guest badge on X and wrote, “first and last time I ever wear one of these.”

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As a part of OpenAI’s leadership transition, the company also fired Brockman as chairman of the board but said he would remain in his role as the President of OpenAI, reporting to the CEO. Later, Brockman took to X to inform that he had quit “based on today’s news”.

OpenAI’s board of directors consists of OpenAI Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever and independent directors, including Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, technology entrepreneur Tasha McCauley, and Georgetown Centre for Security and Emerging Technology’s Helen Toner.

The majority of the board is independent, and the independent directors do not hold equity in OpenAI. 

OpenAI was founded as a non-profit in 2015, and in 2019, it was restructured to ensure that the company could raise capital in pursuit of its mission of ensuring that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.