Boss was sacked by ChatGPT developer over failure to be ‘candid in his communications’
Sam Altman is being lined up for a surprise return as the chief executive of the ChatGPT developer OpenAI amid pressure from investors to reverse his surprise ousting.
Altman was fired by the company board on Friday, citing a failure to be “candid in his communications”, in a move that shocked Silicon Valley.
However, OpenAI’s investors – who include Microsoft – are pushing for his reinstatement, according to reports.
We are still working towards a resolution and we remain optimistic,” Kwon wrote, according to the Information. “By resolution, we mean bringing back Sam, Greg, Jakub, Szymon, Aleksander and other colleagues (sorry if I missed you!) and remaining the place where people who want to work on AGI [artificial general intelligence] research, safety, products and policy can do their best work.”
Kwon said the California-based company hoped to update staff further on Sunday. Early on Sunday, Altman posted on X: “i love the openai team so much”.
According to the Wall Street Journal, Altman is considering a return but has told shareholders he wants a new board and governance structure as a precondition, while he balances the option of starting a new company with former OpenAI colleagues. The WSJ said Altman was set to decide between the two options this weekend.
Altman and Apple’s former design chief Jony Ive have been discussing building a new AI hardware device, according to reports. It was also reported that the SoftBank chief executive, Masayoshi Son, had been involved in the conversation.