With Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announcing that OpenAI founders Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and colleagues will join Microsoft, OpenAI welcomed its third CEO within three days. The "coup" surrounding the CEO change of OpenAI seems to have settled, but the event has once again ushered in a reversal.
On November 20th, US time, five hours after Sam Altman responded to joining Microsoft on social media, Ilya Sutskever, co founder and chief scientist of OpenAI, the leader of this "coup", made her first statement and expressed her deep regret. Ilya Sutskever posted on social media, saying, "I deeply regret my previous participation in the board of directors. I never intended to harm OpenAI. I deeply love everything we have created together, and I will do my best to reunite the company. Less than ten minutes after Ilya Sutskever's tweet was posted, Sam Altman forwarded it with three "loving" expressions.
Obviously, this tweet indicates that the controversy surrounding the CEO change at OpenAI is still not over. At present, in order to welcome Sam Altman back, over 700 employees of OpenAI have signed an open letter "forcing the palace" board of directors. According to the Wall Street Journal, OpenAI has approximately 770 employees. The initial number of employees signing the joint letter was nearly 500, and new employees continued to join.
In an open letter, OpenAI employees stated that the board's process of firing Sam Altman and delisting Greg Brockman has endangered their work, undermined their mission and the company. The behavior of the board of directors indicates that they do not have the ability to manage OpenAI. The board of directors has yet to provide any explanation regarding the dismissal of Sam Altman and the delisting of Greg Brockman, as they refuse to work for such OpenAI.
The employee who signed this open letter also stated that they may choose to resign from OpenAI and join a new Microsoft subsidiary managed by Sam Altman and Greg Brockman. Microsoft has assured them that if they choose to join, this new subsidiary will provide positions for all OpenAl employees. They will take the action of resigning soon, unless the current board resigns collectively, appoints new independent directors, and restores the positions of Sam Altman and Greg Brockman.
At the same time as signing the public letter, OpenAI employees are also "connecting" on social platform X, putting pressure on the board again. They stated that OpenAI without employees is nothing. And Sam Altman himself also forwarded these tweets one by one, with an expression of "love" attached.
It can be seen that the storm surrounding the CEO change of OpenAI is still not over, and the impact of Sam Altman's departure on OpenAI is still ongoing.
The direction of OpenAI's employees and board, whether Sam Altman and Greg Brockman will return to OpenAI, what new actions Altman will take at Microsoft, and whether the relationship between Microsoft and OpenAI will change will still be a series of issues that are worth paying attention to.