Sam Altman to return to OpenAI after investigation confirms he was "wrongfully" fired

Sam Altman will return to OpenAI's board, the company said on Friday. A statement issued by the company said that just a few months after the boardroom dustup, he was fired by the company because of ChatGPT and has been re-hired. The company said an internal investigation launched after his chaotic dismissal last year also found that Altman was unfairly fired.

Now the news is coming that Altman will join the board along with three other new directors. These include Sue Desmond-Hellman, former CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Nicole Seligman, former president of Sony Entertainment; and Instacart CEO Fidji Simo. He will join ex-Salesforce co-CEO Brett Taylor and former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who joined shortly after the November 2023 fracas.

Microsoft also secured an observer seat on OpenAI's board at that time. It was a move that drew criticism and earlier this week Elon Musk filed a lawsuit who helped create OpenAI in 2015 before leaving the project.

Brett Taylor, Chair of the OpenAI Board, said, “I am excited to welcome Sue, Nicole and Fidzi to the OpenAI Board of Directors. Their experience and leadership… will ensure that we continue to empower all of humanity with artificial general intelligence (AGI). Will advance OpenAI's mission of ensuring profit.

Quora CEO Adam D'Angelo is the only member of the old board who took the decision to remove Altman. Altman has recently become the face of artificial intelligence exploration with its decision to release ChatGPT in November 2022.

But in a shock decision, the company's board summarily fired Altman without any apparent reason, threatening a mass exodus by the company's 700-strong workforce, which stood by its star CEO. Were.

Microsoft, the tech giant that made the major investment in OpenAI, had offered to hire people who left the AI company, causing its board to change its mind, which led to Altman being reinstated after a tumultuous few days.