Sam Altman goes to Microsoft

Yesterday, Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, announced that Microsoft had hired the former OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, and Greg Brockman to lead a new advanced AI research team. The hires are seen as a business masterstroke by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.

But how did all this happen in a weekend?

On Friday, OpenAI’s board unexpectedly fired Altman, stating it no longer had confidence in his ability to lead the AI firm. This all happened without telling anyone beforehand, not even Microsoft, which invested $13 billion in the company. Brockman, also a co-founder, resigned in protest, and the company which is one of the most influential in tech, was thrown into turmoil.

Top OpenAI investors (like Microsoft) were not happy about what happened, and over the weekend tried to get Altman and Brockman to return. But that didn’t work out. To replace Altman, OpenAI hired the former CEO of Twitch, Emmett Shear.

While we don’t know the exact reasons the board fired Altman, reports suggest that there was a split over Altman’s aggressive growth plans. Members of the board who believe AI could destroy humanity and want to proceed more cautiously were alarmed by Altman’s fast-paced push to commercialize the company’s powerful ChatGPT chatbot.

But what will happen now as Microsoft is still an investor in OpenAI?

Microsoft’s relationship with OpenAI is still a major question mark, but by bringing leading AI thinkers Altman and Brockman in-house, Nadella preserved and even strengthened the company’s lead in what may be the most disruptive technology in a generation.

Meanwhile, many of OpenAI’s staff are demanding the board's resignation over Sam Altman’s sacking, or they will also leave the company.

This action by the OpenAI board can be called as irresponsible as Steve Jobs getting fired by Apple in 1985.

OpenAI must take some serious actions to come out of this situation.

Until then…

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