OpenAI appoints a new boss as Sam Altman joins Microsoft. In a surprising change of events that cast doubt on the future of the artificial intelligence business at the center of the boom, OpenAI recruited former Twitch executive Emmett Shear as interim CEO while exiting chief Sam Altman moved to Microsoft (MSFT.O).

The nominations, finalized late on Sunday, came after Altman was unexpectedly removed from his position as CEO of the company that made ChatGPT just a few days before and ended rumors that he may come back.

According to a copy of the letter that was viewed by Reuters and a person familiar with the situation, by Monday, nearly all of OpenAI’s more than 700 employees had threatened to quit in a letter requesting the resignation of the board and the return of Altman and former President Greg Brockman. Employees, including OpenAI head scientist Ilya Sutskever, a board member who decided to terminate Altman’s employment, signed the document.

“I am filled with shame about the role I played in the board’s decisions. It was never my intention to cause OpenAI any harm. On Monday, Sutskever stated these sentiments in a post on social networking site X, formerly known as Twitter. “I love everything we’ve built together, and I will do everything I can to reunite the company,” the post read.

Several hours later, both Altman and Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, attempted to allay concerns regarding the impending failure of OpenAI. Altman wrote on X that his top aim “remains to ensure OpenAI continues to thrive” and that he was “committed to fully providing continuity of operations.” Altman’s statement was made about OpenAI’s future.

During an interview with CNBC, Nadella expressed his willingness to have staff members either remain at OpenAI or join Microsoft. He stated that there needed to be a change in governance at the ChatGPT maker, regardless of where Altman ended up.

Microsoft has rushed in to draw some of the most prominent names that left OpenAI, including co-founder Brockman. This is part of an effort to keep key personnel out of the hands of rivals such as Alphabet (GOOGL.O), Google, and Amazon.com (AMZN.O) while also working to stabilize the business in which it spent billions of dollars. Microsoft has also hurried in to recruit some of the biggest names that left OpenAI.

The newly appointed temporary head of OpenAI worked immediately to dispel rumors that its board of directors fired Altman owing to a disagreement about the efficacy of powerful AI models. Shear has promised to launch an investigation into the dismissal, to investigate new governance for OpenAI, and to maintain OpenAI’s path toward making technologies like its famous chatbot available to the public.

“I’m not crazy enough to take this job without board support for commercializing our awesome models,” according to Shear. According to an internal memo that Reuters reviewed, the company that is just getting started fired Altman on Friday due to a “breakdown of communications.”

Two sources briefed on the situation told Reuters that among the several reported efforts to locate a successor, the board of directors of OpenAI approached the CEO of its competitor, Anthropic, about replacing Altman and maybe integrating the two artificial intelligence businesses. Dario Amodei, CEO of Anthropic, did not accept the offer.

The organization that oversees OpenAI falls under the category of charitable organizations. As of last Friday, the company’s top scientist, Sutskever, was one of the four members of its board of directors, including three independent directors who did not have any equity in OpenAI.

In the letter in which they called for the board of directors’ resignation, the company’s employees also urged the nomination of two new independent directors, such as Bret Taylor, a former CEO of Salesforce, and Will Hurd, a former representative for the United States.

The staff added in the letter, “It is abundantly clear that you are unable to oversee OpenAI as a result of the actions that you have taken.”

“Microsoft has assured us that there are positions for all OpenAI employees at this new subsidiary should we choose to join,” they stated further. A spokesman for OpenAI directed Reuters to Altman’s comment regarding the objective of ensuring the firm’s success.

DIFFERENT WAYS OF THINKING

According to two people aware of the subject, the staff of OpenAI has been divided between competing philosophies for several years.

Others, recruited after the success of ChatGPT, are more interested in rapidly building and launching products in the tradition of Silicon Valley startups, according to one of the people. This group includes a significant number of people who joined the company before the year 2022. Their primary objective is to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI) in a secure environment with adequate safeguards.

Before being appointed interim CEO, Shear stated that he was “in favor of slowing down” the rapid growth of AI. This was before his employment. In a message, Radio Free Mobile analyst Richard Windsor stated, “This weekend was simply the detonation of a bomb that has been waiting to go off.”

According to statements made by Nadella in posts on X, Altman will be taking over as the chief executive officer of a new research group located within Microsoft. Other former OpenAI employees who left the company after his dismissal will work with him in this capacity. According to Brockman, renowned academics Szymon Sidor and Jakub Pachocki are two of the individuals who will be joining Altman at Microsoft.

Microsoft has placed significant bets on the fledgling company and has begun offering corporate clients AI copilots based on OpenAI’s technology. Researchers at OpenAI believe that Microsoft’s vast processing power reserves are critical to creating artificial intelligence beyond human capability.

In a report published on Monday, the research and consultancy business SemiAnalysis stated that any attempt by the board of directors of OpenAI, a nonprofit organization, to slow down the development of artificial intelligence out of concerns for its safety has failed.

“Now the world’s largest corporations without clear oversight or commitment to safe and responsible AGI are in the driver’s seat,” according to the document. According to sources, Microsoft had supported a return by Altman to OpenAI, a move that seemed likely only hours before Monday’s remarks. The announcements were made on Monday.