Here’s a timeline of the OpenAI saga with CEO Sam Altman

So, This just happened.

The entire tech industry has been glued to their screens over the past week as leading artificial intelligence company and creator of ChatGPT, OpenAI, became embroiled in a power struggle that resulted in its CEO being fired, replaced twice, and ultimately reinstated, and all this inside five days.

The saga began after OpenAI’s board abruptly fired CEO Sam Altman, one of OpenAI’s founders who founded the company in 2015 with investors reminiscent of Peter Thiel and Elon Musk. Altman officially joined OpenAI as CEO in 2019 and stayed there… until all this happened.

That’s why the appearance of the OpenAI board was such a great shock suddenly announced on Friday evening that Altman had left the company. Then, lower than 24 hours later, reports spread quickly that OpenAI desired to bring back Altman. What?!

Let’s summarize what happened daily to make it easier to digest.

Released on Friday

Friday, November 17, was shaping as much as be an bizarre day in the burgeoning AI space, until suddenly, late in the afternoon, OpenAI’s board of directors announced that the company was firing CEO Sam Altman.

The tech industry was shocked because there was no indication that Altman and the leading artificial intelligence organization and its management were at odds. Even more surprising was the way Altman was fired and what OpenAI’s board said.

“Mr. Altman’s departure follows the board’s thoughtful review, which determined that he had not always been candid in his interactions with the board, which made it difficult for him to perform his responsibilities,” OpenAI said. post he said. “The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue to lead OpenAI.”

OpenAI management didn’t share what exactly its problem with Altman was. Whatever it was, nonetheless, it seemed extremely serious because management didn’t even wait until the markets closed. Many firms attempt to get rid of negative press at the end of the day to be able to control the most harmful consequences. This was not the case here.

The board also announced the CTO of OpenAI Mira Murati will take over as interim CEO.

Rumors and speculation swirled on social media as tech executives, reporters and observers tried to make sense of the situation based on the little information provided in management’s announcement. Tech journalist Kara Swisher was quick to report that based on the information she had from sources, there was “misalignment” between the for-profit side OpenAI, represented by Altman, and the nonprofit side controlled by its board of directors.

According to Swisher, OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever recently managed to achieve board support for worries took the more profit-oriented direction that OpenAI was taking. OpenAI was originally founded as an open source, non-profit organization. But over the years, the company’s focus has shifted toward a more traditional tech startup, with Altman in tow allegedly more focused on profit and product development than on issues reminiscent of AI safety, which has raised concerns from the nonprofit OpenAI, which oversees the company.

What happened on Friday night looked like either side butted heads.

Shortly after OpenAI was announced, Altman he broke the silence via X, Elon Musk’s platform formerly generally known as Twitter.

“I loved my time at Openai. It was a breakthrough for me personally and, I hope, a bit for the world. Most of all, I loved working with such talented people” – Altman sent. “I’ll have more to say about what happens next.”

But Friday wasn’t over yet.

OpenAI co-founder and CEO Greg Brockman announced his decision to go away the company based on reports. OpenAI’s statement mentioned that Brockman could be stepping down as CEO, but the company specifically stated that he would remain with the company in other responsibilities. So Brockman’s sudden resignation on Friday evening also got here as a surprise to all OpenAI board members.

“Based on today’s news, I’m leaving” – Brockman sentadding that he was proud of his time at OpenAI.

Three senior OpenAI researchers — OpenAI Research Director Jakub Pachocki; head of the AI risk team, Aleksander Madry; and senior researcher Szymon Sidor — also announced theirs resignation from the company.

Brockman then followed up the announcement with one other post: sharing his own version of how Altman’s layoffs dropped.

According to Brockman, Altman received a text message from Sutskever on Thursday evening informing him of the meeting the next day. During Friday’s Google Meet meeting, Altman was fired by the entire board except Brockman, who was not present. Brockman says he was later informed that he was being faraway from the board but retained in other positions at the company.

According to Brockman, most of OpenAI’s management was unaware of Altman’s removal until that day.

Saturday: OpenAI wants Altman back

Altman gave the impression to be gone. But if Friday was driven by the nonprofit OpenAI, Saturday’s news cycle was driven by for-profit investors who unhappy with Altman’s firing.

Big tech firms like Microsoft have invested heavily in OpenAI. The computer giant itself offered the company $13 billion. And it’s actually not because Microsoft firmly believes in the nonprofit AI safety ethos. Invests in for-profit OpenAI led by Sam Altman.

According to report published by Forbes, on Saturday, OpenAI’s big investors used all their power to persuade OpenAI’s board to reverse its decision and produce Altman back to the company.

It worked. Edge reported soon after Forbes reports that OpenAI’s management has contacted Altman in an try to negotiate a return to the company. This all happened lower than 24 hours after Altman was fired.

On Saturday, an agreement was reportedly reached that returned Altman and Brockman to the company. Additionally, OpenAI’s current board of directors would resign. However, the Saturday evening deadline passed and the deal didn’t close.

At this point on Saturday evening, it wasn’t entirely clear what was happening at OpenAI. Is Altman back? Was he going to start out his own artificial intelligence company? The uncertainty was becoming an excessive amount of for many OpenAI employees, who expressed their disapproval of Altman’s firing. Late Saturday night, it became clear that Altman had his way support, as many began to publicly appear alongside the former OpenAI CEO. Altman as an alternative common his recognition for the support of their colleagues.

“I love the openai team so much,” he said in a single X post.

At the end of the day, OpenAI assured its employees that an agreement to bring Altman back was in the works and that the organization “remains optimistic“

Sunday delights

“First and last time I wore something like this,” Altman wrote on X along with a selfie of him with his OpenAI guest badge.

Altman appeared to have returned to OpenAI’s offices, allegedly continuing negotiations regarding his return to the company. According to a report by The Information, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella became personally involved in discussions to bring Altman back to the artificial intelligence company. Interm CEO Murato also rallied support for Altman’s return.

But later that day, it gave the look of the whole lot was going to disintegrate. OpenAI has announced that it can bring former Twitch executive Emmett Shear on board latest interim CEO.

At this point, it gave the look of the saga was over. Altman, the interim CEO, and OpenAI’s financial backers tried to barter a refund and get the board to fireplace Altman, descend. The power play clearly failed. OpenAI seemed able to move on without Altman and even Murati.

Microsoft Monday

Monday began with a bang, as Microsoft CEO Nadella made a big announcement in the early morning hours: Altman and Brockman could be joining Microsoft.

“We are extremely excited to share the news that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman and their colleagues will be joining Microsoft to lead a new research team focused on advanced artificial intelligence” – Nadella sent on X. “We look forward to moving quickly to ensure they have the resources they need to succeed.”

Nadella also said in his post that Microsoft is committed to a partnership with OpenAI. However, maintaining this arrangement seemed difficult. Microsoft has apparently engaged Altman to work by itself AI product.

What’s more, a whole bunch of OpenAI employees were being threatened at this point leave the company and jump ship to Microsoft in connection with Altman’s dismissal. What’s much more disturbing is that Sutskever, OpenAI’s co-founder and chief scientist who allegedly began the whole thing, has now approached OpenAI’s board of directors.

“I deeply regret my participation in the board’s actions” – Sutskever sent to X. “I never wanted to harm OpenAI. I love everything we have built together and I will do everything in my power to bring the company back together.”

A petition signed by Sutskever and a whole bunch of OpenAI employees later widespread, demanding the resignation of the OpenAI board.

At this point, the whole lot gave the impression to be in vain, right? According to Microsoft’s CEO, Altman signed a contract with Microsoft. Well, not likely. New reports taken over that despite what Nadella said, the reason so many OpenAI employees continued to push for Altman’s return was because the Microsoft deal had not yet turn into official.

Nadella confirmed this during a Monday evening interview with CNBC, wherein he avoided giving a straight answer to the query: “Will Sam Altman be a Microsoft employee?”

Return Tuesday/Wednesday

We now know that Sam Altman is indeed not an official Microsoft worker, and that is because Sam Altman is officially back as CEO of OpenAI.

Late Tuesday/early Wednesday morning, OpenAI announced on X that Sam Altman was officially back as CEO and that the overwhelming majority of its board members were now not present.

“We have reached an agreement in principle to return Sam Altman to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of directors consisting of Bret Taylor (Chairman), Larry Summers and Adam D’Angelo” – OpenAI official account sent on X. “We are working together to determine the details. Thank you very much for your patience.”

There are still many unanswered questions on the entire OpenAI saga. First, we still do not know OpenAI’s concerns about Altman that led to the board suddenly firing him and declaring that he principally couldn’t be trusted.

We may soon learn what exactly happened to some of the same board members who fired Altman but who aren’t any longer on the board.

Credit : mashable.com