OpenAI Board Removes CEO Sam Altman: Explore The Timeline Of Events

@emilychangtv will interview @satyanadella soon on @BloombergTV

More discussion happening now in this Space – https://t.co/9LA9RARZI7

— Kristi Hines (@kristileilani) November 20, 2023

Many of us have worked with @sama and @gdb for years. They are some of the kindest and highest integrity people there are. Of course we’ll join them.

3 board members, who never engage internally, have had 3 days to tell their story, and they’ve kept quiet. There’s nothing there.

— Peter Welinder (@npew) November 20, 2023

Salesforce will match any OpenAI researcher who has tendered their resignation full cash & equity OTE to immediately join our Salesforce Einstein Trusted AI research team under Silvio Savarese. Send me your cv directly to ceo@salesforce.com. Einstein is the most successful… pic.twitter.com/1RXoc9ekeo

— Marc Benioff (@Benioff) November 20, 2023

Scoop: Nat Friedman, the former CEO of GitHub, was asked to be Interim CEO of OpenAI yesterday. He declined. Later Sunday, OpenAI announced that Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear would take over as Interim CEO.https://t.co/JmDW7OsfAQ

— Kate Clark (@KateClarkTweets) November 20, 2023

The first two are have been true for years, the third will be.

Whether or not they actually join Microsoft, OpenAI is de facto part of Microsoft.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 20, 2023

satya and my top priority remains to ensure openai continues to thrive

we are committed to fully providing continuity of operations to our partners and customers

the openai/microsoft partnership makes this very doable

— Sam Altman (@sama) November 20, 2023

Nadella reposted Altman’s post shortly after.

Yesterday, Sunday, while today and the rest of week is OpenAI company holiday, many people came to the office from everywhere cancelling their vacay just to show up to be the moral support for Sam & Greg and our leadership team. This is who we are. pic.twitter.com/7EfT8FbOy8

— Tifa Chen (@tifafafafa) November 20, 2023

Not the best time to announce this but I joined @OpenAI. Yesterday was my third day 😅

— Fereshte Khani (@fereshte_khani) November 18, 2023

I spent the whole weekend angry and scared. Now I am just very sad. This is an improvement.

— Adrien Ecoffet (@AdrienLE) November 20, 2023

Never got so many job offers so quickly in my life

— Jerry Tworek (@MillionInt) November 20, 2023

happy to join microsoft, still not using teams though

— Steven Heidel (@stevenheidel) November 20, 2023

I am on an H-1B, in the process of getting my green card and relocating my family to the US.

Me and many other colleagues in a similar situation have signed this letter.

I do not know what will happen next, but I am confident we will be taken care of.

the board should resign. https://t.co/UOGLqHEWp9

— Reiichiro Nakano (@reiinakano) November 20, 2023

It may not be over just yet, as there is still a chance Altman may return to OpenAI if the board resigns, according to sources for The Verge.

we have more unity and commitment and focus than ever before.

we are all going to work together some way or other, and i’m so excited.

one team, one mission.

— Sam Altman (@sama) November 20, 2023

💯

Cannot overstate the level of pride & respect I feel for @miramurati @bradlightcap @jasonkwon and the rest of the leadership team for their response to this crisis.

One team, one mission. https://t.co/w0nORxs3B1

— Greg Brockman (@gdb) November 20, 2023

701/778=90% https://t.co/M5GCmVmSL5

— ian mobbs (@ianmobbsy) November 20, 2023

This all happened after midnight, during a company wide holiday. Support was always near unanimous. https://t.co/wX07nyv8SK

— Boris Power (@BorisMPower) November 20, 2023

About 650 / 770 signed at this moment. As people start waking up, more will come. All the efforts started after 1:30 AM, 500+ within two hours and all of this after 2 crazy days with very little sleep.

— Lilian Weng (@lilianweng) November 20, 2023

Participants in an X space discussing the OpenAI saga brought up an interesting theory.

Quora’s Poe – founded by OpenAI board member Adam D’Angelo – introduced the ability to create custom bots with OpenAI models, including ChatGPT, a few months ago.

Today we are launching creator monetization for Poe! This program lets any bot creator on Poe generate revenue. This is a major step forward for the platform and is the first program of its kind, so we are very excited to see what it lets everyone create. (thread) pic.twitter.com/feLjB62hYo

— Adam D'Angelo (@adamdangelo) October 25, 2023

The timeline of events for the last two weeks:

• November 6, at DevDay, Altman introduced custom GPTs and an upcoming monetized GPT store.
• November 15, Microsoft announced the integration of GPTs and plugins.
• November 19, the OpenAI board removed Altman as CEO.
• November 20, Nadella announced Altman, Brockman, and other OpenAI colleagues to join Microsoft.

Screenshot from Poe, November 2023

Everyone at @OpenAI is united against the board's actions. This is not a civil war. It's an entire company versus a couple out of touch board members. https://t.co/d8rDZyFNy0

— Noam Brown (@polynoamial) November 20, 2023

In case it isn’t clear: all of our services (i.e. our API and ChatGPT) are still being actively maintained and monitored. Folks have actually stepped up to ensure duplicate on-call coverage during this time to make sure the customer experience is still stable and reliable. https://t.co/BVb3xiLFE0

— Sherwin Wu (@sherwinwu) November 20, 2023

A note to @OpenAI developers 🫶:

I wanted to express my appreciation for all the warm, thoughtful, and supportive messages I got and I’ve seen posted across the community.

Despite a moment of uncertainty, our commitment to developers remained steadfast.

In the meantime,…

— Logan.GPT (@OfficialLoganK) November 20, 2023

openai is nothing without its customers and developers

— shyamal (@shyamalanadkat) November 20, 2023

To all developers and customers building on @OpenAI, we are here for you. ❤️

Our commitment to serve you remains unwavering, and we are continuing to prioritize stability and security of our systems. https://t.co/TEns8hxNEt

— Romain Huet (@romainhuet) November 20, 2023

xAI is a great place to work at. Our culture is engineering-driven and fast-paced with a long-term strategic roadmap to develop safe and strong AI. If you want to learn more, I'm happy to jump on a Google Meet call at short notice. My DMs are open.

— Toby Pohlen (@TobyPhln) November 20, 2023

❤️❤️❤️ https://t.co/NL3nqrjKUo

— Sam Altman (@sama) November 20, 2023

OpenAI is nothing without its people

— Mira Murati (@miramurati) November 20, 2023

Emmett Shear, new interim CEO of OpenAI, previously the CEO of Twitch, accepts the position to drive significant changes and address current challenges, emphasizing the company’s importance and his commitment to its success and stability.

“Before I took the job, I checked on the reasoning behind the change. 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 commercializing our awesome models.”

Today I got a call inviting me to consider a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: to become the interim CEO of @OpenAI. After consulting with my family and reflecting on it for just a few hours, I accepted. I had recently resigned from my role as CEO of Twitch due to the birth of my…

— Emmett Shear (@eshear) November 20, 2023

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman (former President & Co-Founder at OpenAI) will be joining the company. Of note: Nadella identified Altman’s new role as CEO of an AI research “group” within Microsoft.

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…

— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) November 20, 2023

I’m super excited to have you join as CEO of this new group, Sam, setting a new pace for innovation. We’ve learned a lot over the years about how to give founders and innovators space to build independent identities and cultures within Microsoft, including GitHub, Mojang Studios,…

— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) November 20, 2023

Rumors continue to surface that talks to reinstate Altman as OpenAI CEO are partially due to investor pressure, especially from Microsoft.

first and last time i ever wear one of these pic.twitter.com/u3iKwyWj0a

— Sam Altman (@sama) November 19, 2023

However, after having already named OpenAI CTO Mira Murati as interim CEO, the board then announced a new interim CEO: Emmett Shear, a co-founder of Twitch. Worth mentioning is that Shear’s Twitch co-founder, Kyle Vogt, resigned as CEO of Cruise the same day.

Congratulations to Australia on winning the World Cup! Great run to the finals, India.

— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) November 19, 2023

Curiously, at least one person in last night’s emoji stream had removed mentions of OpenAI in the bio.

No longer with OpenAI?https://t.co/MtFypVHS17 pic.twitter.com/kEeFn1mXw0

— Kristi Hines (@kristileilani) November 19, 2023

But later posted this.

See you on Monday 🫡

— Logan.GPT (@OfficialLoganK) November 19, 2023

💛 https://t.co/3xyePGzeyf

— Greg Brockman (@gdb) November 19, 2023

Over 100 OpenAI employees have reposted Altman’s message with various heart emojis.

i love the openai team so much

— Sam Altman (@sama) November 19, 2023

❤️ https://t.co/33rZoblVB3

— Greg Brockman (@gdb) November 19, 2023

🤍 https://t.co/458B9OQ4FN

— Brad Lightcap (@bradlightcap) November 19, 2023

🫶

— Isa Fulford (@isafulf) November 19, 2023

♥️🫶 https://t.co/JVZa1dgjTu

— Logan.GPT (@OfficialLoganK) November 19, 2023

❤️ https://t.co/lnNVuTJsn1

— Lilian Weng (@lilianweng) November 19, 2023

💜 https://t.co/2igK12afkQ

— rapha gontijo lopes (@rapha_gl) November 19, 2023

The latest: VC investors, fearing a mass exodus at OpenAI or Microsoft pulling out of its $10B commitment, are negotiating w/ OpenAI's board & w/ Microsoft. A decision about Altman's return is expected to be reached in hours. Stay tuned! https://t.co/tSwjfmkg3d w/ @nmasc_

— Kate Clark (@KateClarkTweets) November 19, 2023

According to sources for The Verge, the board missed a deadline of 5pm PST to resign, allowing Altman and Brockman to return. Reportedly, more OpenAI staffers were set to resign.

Near the deadline, some OpenAI staff posted similar messages:

we’ll be so so back.

— shyamal (@shyamalanadkat) November 18, 2023

we’re so back

— Ryan Greene (@rabrg) November 18, 2023

From Bloomberg sources: “In one scenario under consideration, members of the current OpenAI board would step down.”

Sources: Satya Nadella has been in touch with Sam Altman and pledged to support Altman with whatever steps he takes next (Bloomberg)https://t.co/DXuVmsYkXW

📫 Subscribe: https://t.co/OyWeKSRpIMhttps://t.co/3lkzMuXQby

— Techmeme (@Techmeme) November 19, 2023

Breaking: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO https://t.co/VKcqGj0KBZ

— The Verge (@verge) November 18, 2023

Scoop: investors are scrambling to restore Sam Altman to OpenAI in a shocking return.

They lack direct power, but leverage could be used before Altman committed to a new startup, sources tell @Forbes, with Microsoft a key player.

By me and @DavidJeans2:https://t.co/2UaVHxfUKM

— Alex Konrad (@alexrkonrad) November 18, 2023

I have had the privilege of working with @gdb and @sama at OpenAI for over a year. They both impressed and inspired me because of their mission focus and incredible ability to drive innovation. Yesterday’s news was a shock, but I can’t wait to see what they do next.

— Salman Khan (@salkhanacademy) November 18, 2023

Khan Academy is featured as one of OpenAI’s customer success stories for GPT-4.

There was something truly special about the velocity with which @sama and @gdb were executing at @openai that was inspiring us all peers in Silicon Valley and beyond.

This is why I can’t wait to support and partner with them on whatever they do next. Keep raising the standard.

— Guillermo Rauch (@rauchg) November 18, 2023

This is pretty incredible. The one thing that's certain is that VCs and others will be lining up to offer @gdb and @sama all the funding they cd want for their next chapter. https://t.co/Dqc4gKSlf3

— Chris Anderson (@TEDchris) November 18, 2023

Your contributions at @OpenAI forever changed the way we work and live. They are truly legendary for humanity.

Look forward to the next world-changing companies that @sama and @gdb build. https://t.co/ngbYr0S4J9

— Alfred Lin (@Alfred_Lin) November 18, 2023

Sam Altman is a hero of mine. He built a company from nothing to $90 Billion in value, and changed our collective world forever. I can't wait to see what he does next. I, and billions of people, will benefit from his future work- it's going to be simply incredible. Thank you…

— Eric Schmidt (@ericschmidt) November 17, 2023

🟡 SCOOP: OpenAI has received just a fraction of Microsoft’s $10 billion investment, @ReedAlbergotti reports.https://t.co/Jl8nbsORhK

— Semafor (@semafor) November 18, 2023

Sam Altman's firing jeopardizes the sale of OpenAI's staff shares; a source says the tender offer values OpenAI at ~$86B and was expected to happen in December (@kateclarktweets / The Information)https://t.co/saTjZXjHz7https://t.co/FrGUoVFI8B

— Techmeme (@Techmeme) November 18, 2023

“The Senior Manager, Strategic Sourcing is a key player in OpenAI’s Finance division, responsible for elevating our non-technology procurement function.”

Screenshot from OpenAI, November 2023

SPECULATION:

They achieved AGI, which scared Ilya, leading to his 'Oppenheimer moment.'

The day before his fire, @sama said they made a massive discovery in the last 2 weeks: pic.twitter.com/Va2cX9agBu

— Rowan Cheung (@rowancheung) November 18, 2023

“It’s a good idea to keep enough control so that investors can’t fire you (there are a lot of different ways to do this), but beyond that, it’s important to bring in other people and trust them to help you build the company.”

Sam wrote this essay on board members back in 2014 pic.twitter.com/LVo0cjOl7x

— Peter Yang (@petergyang) November 18, 2023

Big scoop from @kevinroose:

“We can say definitively that the board’s decision was not made in response to malfeasance or anything related to our financial, business, safety or security/privacy practices,” [an openAI exec] wrote. “This was a breakdown in communication between… https://t.co/nekDIY2odh

— Gary Marcus (@GaryMarcus) November 18, 2023

Sources close to the NY Times shared that Sutskever countered views of it being a “hostile takeover” and emphasized its necessity for the the goal advancing AI for humanity’s benefit.

More information about OpenAI board members involved in yesterday’s shocking decision:

• Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s chief scientist.
• Adam D’Angelo, CEO of Quora and Poe.
• Tasha McCauley, a technology entrepreneur.
• Helen Toner, from Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET).

Bloomberg reports that Altman was dismissed from his position as CEO due to a series of disagreements with board members over fundamental aspects of AI development and commercialization.

Key points of conflict included the pace of generative AI development, strategies for commercializing products, and measures to mitigate potential public harm.

Altman’s clashes, particularly with board member and OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever, culminated in the board losing confidence in his leadership.

Ego is the enemy of growth

— Ilya Sutskever (@ilyasut) September 29, 2023

Additionally, Altman’s independent entrepreneurial ventures, such as seeking investments for an AI chip startup and concerns about diverging governance models, further strained his relationship with the board.

Micosoft’s CEO was not only “blindsided” by the news, but also furious according to Bloomberg’s sources close to the situation.

A look at OpenAI’s structure reveals:

• OpenAI’s for-profit subsidiary is fully governed by the OpenAI Nonprofit through its ownership and control of OpenAI GP LLC.
• The board, part of a Nonprofit, must prioritize safe, beneficial AGI development, with humanity as its main beneficiary, not OpenAI investors.
• The board is predominantly independent, with no direct equity held by members, including CEO Sam Altman, whose stake is through Y Combinator.
• Profits for investors and employees, including Microsoft, are capped, with excess value benefiting humanity through the Nonprofit.
• The board decides if it has attained AGI – an autonomous system that surpasses human capabilities in work most valuable to society. AGI technology is not included in commercial deals with Microsoft.

if i start going off, the openai board should go after me for the full value of my shares

— Sam Altman (@sama) November 18, 2023

Screenshot from OpenAI, November 2023

According to sources for The Information, three additional people at OpenAI have resigned in the wake of Altman and Brockman’s exit:

• Jakub Pachocki, Director of Research at OpenAI, “gpt-4 lead.”
• Aleksander Madry, Head of Preparedness, “Working on making AI more reliable and safe, as well as having a positive impact on society.”
• Szymon Sidor, Research Scientist at OpenAI, “Building AGI one line of code at the time.”

i love you all.

today was a weird experience in many ways. but one unexpected one is that it has been sorta like reading your own eulogy while you’re still alive. the outpouring of love is awesome.

one takeaway: go tell your friends how great you think they are.

— Sam Altman (@sama) November 18, 2023

The sequence of events began with Sam receiving a text from Ilya, leading to a Google Meet where he was informed of his termination, with the board present except for Greg.

Shortly after, Greg was similarly contacted by Ilya and removed from the board, though his role in the company was affirmed.

The management team, except for Mira who was informed earlier, learned of these developments soon after.

Sam and I are shocked and saddened by what the board did today.

Let us first say thank you to all the incredible people who we have worked with at OpenAI, our customers, our investors, and all of those who have been reaching out.

We too are still trying to figure out exactly…

— Greg Brockman (@gdb) November 18, 2023

I’ve spoken to Sam and Greg and they will have a statement shortly

— Brian Chesky (@bchesky) November 18, 2023

For those wondering what’ll happen next, the answer is we’ll keep shipping. @sama & @gdb weren’t micro-managers. The ✨ comes from the many geniuses here in research product eng & design. There’s clear internal uniformity among these leaders that we’re here for the bigger mission

— Evan Morikawa (@E0M) November 18, 2023

it's been sad for me to see @sama and @gdb go. I love and respect them much.

Despite all of these the mission of the OpenAI is bigger than any of us and stays the same – build safe AGI to benefit humanity. ❤️

— Wojciech Zaremba (@woj_zaremba) November 18, 2023

In the craziness of ChatGPT forming, @miramurati was the one making final decisions in daily standups. She’s been leading this company for years and will continue to do an amazing job here.

— Evan Morikawa (@E0M) November 18, 2023

Scoop: There are about to be a lot more major departures of top folks at @OpenAI tonight and I assume Altman will make a statement tonight. But, as I understand it, it was a “misalignment” of the profit versus nonprofit adherents at the company. The developer day was an issue. https://t.co/eIE4zctv4X

— Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) November 18, 2023

Sending love to everyone at OpenAI. Whatever happens next, many of us are wishing the best for all of you and for the amazing company you've built. ❤️

— Andrew Ng (@AndrewYNg) November 18, 2023

❤️ out to employees who have to navigate through ambiguity and uncertainty that distracts from your mission.

regardless of what happens, lean on each other to get through.

i’ve lived it and seen the ebbs and flows. kindness is contagious ❤️❤️❤️

— Jack Krawczyk (@JackK) November 18, 2023

Also included in original announcement from OpenAI: “As a part of this transition, Greg Brockman will be stepping down as chairman of the board and will remain in his role at the company, reporting to the CEO.”

The (former) President & Co-Founder of OpenAI responded:

After learning today’s news, this is the message I sent to the OpenAI team: https://t.co/NMnG16yFmm pic.twitter.com/8x39P0ejOM

— Greg Brockman (@gdb) November 18, 2023

Microsoft reportedly found out about Altman’s removal a minute before the news was published according to Axios.

Sam Altman is a hero of mine. He built a company from nothing to $90 Billion in value, and changed our collective world forever. I can't wait to see what he does next. I, and billions of people, will benefit from his future work- it's going to be simply incredible. Thank you…

— Eric Schmidt (@ericschmidt) November 17, 2023

“We have a long-term agreement with OpenAI with full access to everything we need to deliver on our innovation agenda and an exciting product roadmap; and remain committed to our partnership, and to Mira and the team. Together, we will continue to deliver the meaningful benefits of this technology to the world.”

As you saw at Microsoft Ignite this week, we're continuing to rapidly innovate for this era of AI, with over 100 announcements across the full tech stack – from AI systems, models, and tools in Azure, to Copilot. Most importantly, we're committed to delivering all of this to our…

— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) November 17, 2023

Sam Altman is one of the best founders of his generation and has made an immense contribution to our industry

— Brian Chesky (@bchesky) November 17, 2023

i loved my time at openai. it was transformative for me personally, and hopefully the world a little bit. most of all i loved working with such talented people.

will have more to say about what’s next later.

🫡

— Sam Altman (@sama) November 17, 2023

In case you were wondering how much Sam Altman mattered to Microsoft. I'm gonna go with A LOT. pic.twitter.com/Vs7WvQWq8Y

— Alex Kantrowitz (@Kantrowitz) November 17, 2023

Microsoft’s CEO recently appeared on stage with Altman to announce an extended partnership.

The timing appears to be shortly after the OpenAI announcement.

The decision for Altman’s departure follows the board’s deliberation over his communication approach, which they found lacked the necessary candor for effective governance.

In the official statement, the board expressed gratitude for Altman’s contributions to OpenAI’s founding and growth but emphasized the need for new leadership to navigate the company’s future. They expressed full confidence in Murati’s capabilities to lead the company during this transitional phase.

The board, comprising independent directors such as Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, entrepreneur Tasha McCauley, and Helen Toner of the Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology, along with OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, plays a crucial role in maintaining the company’s direction and mission integrity. Additionally, Greg Brockman, the chairman of the board, will be stepping down from his role but will continue his association with the company.

Stepping into the role of interim CEO is Mira Murati, the company’s Chief Technology Officer, known for her integral role in OpenAI’s growth and her deep understanding of the company’s operations and values.

Murati, a member of the OpenAI leadership team for five years, has been pivotal in shaping the company’s direction. Her expertise in AI governance and policy, coupled with her leadership in the company’s research, product, and safety functions, makes her an ideal candidate for the interim CEO position. The board anticipates a smooth transition as it embarks on a search for a permanent CEO.

OpenAI, Inc, a prominent name in the field of artificial intelligence, has announced a significant change in its leadership. Sam Altman, who has been at the helm as CEO, is set to depart from both his role and the board of directors. The announcement comes after a thorough review process by the board, which concluded a need for new leadership.

Story is breaking.

OpenAI announces leadership transition https://t.co/fFYDLwGXQz

— OpenAI (@OpenAI) November 17, 2023