Most of the staff threatens to quit unless the board resigns and reinstates Sam Altman as CEO of OpenAI

On Monday morning, the situation at OpenAI took another unexpected turn, as a majority of the staff expressed their intention to leave unless the board steps down and brings back former CEO Sam Altman and ex-president Greg Brockman. Approximately 500 employees, including several executives, have signed a letter endorsing this demand.

OpenAI currently has a workforce of 700. Some notable employees, like Chief Technical Officer Mira Murati (who briefly assumed the company's top position over the weekend), stated on X on Monday that the essence of OpenAI lies in its people and without them, it cannot thrive. 

On Friday afternoon, OpenAI's board made the decision to terminate Altman, which has since prompted the submission of a letter to the board. The board cited Altman's lack of openness in his communications with them, subsequently impairing their ability to fulfill their responsibilities. 

Consequently, the board no longer possesses confidence in Altman's capacity to steer OpenAI. Upon receiving this news, Brockman communicated his resignation as chairman to OpenAI staff via email. 

In a leaked internal memo, Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap clarified that Altman's dismissal was a result of communication breakdown, rather than any misconduct or issues pertaining to our finances, operations, safety, or security/privacy practices. 

Altman and Brockman had crucial discussions with OpenAI's board over the weekend with the aim of regaining their positions. However, these talks did not yield the desired outcome for the former CEO and chairman. Late on Sunday night, it was revealed that the board had instead chosen to appoint Emmett Shear, former CEO of Twitch, as OpenAI's interim chief executive.

Furthermore, a significant development occurred late on Sunday or early Monday morning when Microsoft announced that it had hired Altman, Brockman, and several other former OpenAI colleagues to lead a new advanced AI research team. As OpenAI's main investor, Microsoft utilizes the company's technology to enhance its generative AI-driven products like Copilot. 

Microsoft was apparently taken aback by Altman's dismissal, and although there were suggestions that Satya Nadella had essentially obtained OpenAI through an acquisition at no cost, the Microsoft CEO affirmed that his company remains fully committed to their partnership with OpenAI. 

Since Altman, Brockman, and others have assumed new roles at Microsoft, it creates a challenge for the OpenAI staff who are calling for the former leaders to be rehired. According to the letter written by the employees, they accuse the board of acting in opposition to the best interests of OpenAI.

The letter said, "Your actions have made it obvious that you are incapable of overseeing OpenAI. We are unable to work for or with people that lack competence, judgement and care for our mission and employees," The undersigned individuals may choose to resign from OpenAI and join the newly established Microsoft subsidiary led by Sam Altman and Greg Brockman. 

Microsoft has confirmed that there are available positions for all OpenAI staff members at this subsidiary in the event we decide to make the move. Unless all current board members resign and two new independent directors, such as Bret Taylor and Will Hurd, are appointed along with reinstating Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, we will promptly proceed with this course of action. 

According to reports, Ilya Sutskever, the chief scientist of OpenAI and a board member, is said to have orchestrated the coup against Altman. However, Sutskever has recently shown remorse for his involvement in the board's actions and has made a commitment to do everything in his power to bring the company back together. Sutskever is among the hundreds of individuals who have signed the letter. 

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