The world’s hottest AI company went through three CEOs in under a week and ended up with the same one it had at the start — so what happened, and what’s next?
On November 17th, 2023, OpenAI’s nonprofit board abruptly announced that co-founder and CEO Sam Altman was out. The shake-up came just shy of one year after the launch of ChatGPT, which quickly became one of the fastest-growing apps in history and initiated an industry-wide race to build generative AI.
Over a period of just a few days, the CEO job shuffled between CTO Mira Murati and former Twitch boss Emmett Shear. Meanwhile, hundreds of OpenAI employees said they would leave for jobs at Microsoft, OpenAI’s lead investor, unless the board reinstated Altman. In the end, Altman returned, along with co-founder Greg Brockman and a revamped board of directors.
On March 8th, after an independent investigation into his sudden firing, OpenAI reinstated Altman as a member of the board, along with three other additions.
That same month, OpenAI co-founder Elon Musk filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, claiming that the company’s pursuit of profit has led it to abandon its founding nonprofit mission to develop artificial general intelligence technology (AGI) that will benefit humanity.
All of the news and updates about OpenAI continue below.
- Here’s OpenAI’s new logo Microsoft is letting OpenAI get its own AI compute now OpenAI and SoftBank are starting a $500 billion AI data center company OpenAI announces plan to transform into a for-profit company “So far, the vibes are off.” Meta asks the government to block OpenAI’s switch to a for-profit Inside the launch — and future — of ChatGPT Sam Altman lowers the bar for AGI Inside Elon Musk’s messy breakup with OpenAI Microsoft prepares for OpenAI’s next model as their relationship strains OpenAI plans to release its next big AI model by December Departing OpenAI leader says no company is ready for AGI Former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati’s next move: another AI startup. OpenAI was a research lab — now it’s just another tech company OpenAI CTO Mira Murati is leaving Jony Ive confirms he’s working on a new device with OpenAI Step four: Profit. OpenAI searches for an answer to its copyright problems ChatGPT’s weekly users have doubled in less than a year Another OpenAI co-founder departs. Elon Musk is suing OpenAI and Sam Altman again Microsoft now lists OpenAI as a competitor. Microsoft and Apple ditch OpenAI board seats amid regulatory scrutiny Apple’s Phil Schiller is reportedly joining OpenAI’s board Former head of NSA joins OpenAI board OpenAI’s business is booming. Elon Musk drops lawsuit against OpenAI OpenAI adds two new executives. Former OpenAI board member explains why they fired Sam Altman OpenAI has a new safety team — it’s run by Sam Altman OpenAI CEO Sam Altman on the company’s employee NDAs. OpenAI researcher resigns, claiming safety has taken ‘a backseat to shiny products’ OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever is officially leaving OpenAI says there is no “agreement at all” with Elon Musk. Sam Altman rejoins OpenAI’s board after investigation into sudden firing OpenAI says Elon Musk wanted ‘absolute control’ of the company Elon Musk’s legal case against OpenAI is hilariously bad Elon Musk sues OpenAI for abandoning its mission to benefit humanity The latest rumor about Sam Altman’s AI chip-building dream could require up to $7 trillion. Microsoft’s observer has reportedly joined the OpenAI board. A peek inside the black box that is OpenAI’s finances. “The destruction of the company could be consistent with the board’s mission.” Not a flattering portrayal of Sam Altman. OpenAI is low on Toner. In firing Altman, OpenAI’s board wanted to keep the element of surprise OpenAI’s GPT store delayed to next year Sam Altman on being fired and rehired by OpenAI Microsoft joins OpenAI’s board with Sam Altman officially back as CEO OpenAI’s board needs to say something A troll worthy of Clippy themself. A recent OpenAI breakthrough on the path to AGI has caused a stir. Read Microsoft’s internal memos about the chaos at OpenAI Sam Altman to return as CEO of OpenAI OpenAI drops a big new ChatGPT feature with a joke about its CEO drama The negotiations to bring Sam Altman back to OpenAI slowly continue. Microsoft offers to match OpenAI compensation. OpenAI exec to employees: “our number one goal remains to reunify OpenAI.” A few more updates about OpenAI. Is Sam Altman joining Microsoft? Satya Nadella doesn’t seem to know Today on the (emergency) Vergecast: what in the world is happening at OpenAI. Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO Of course there’s a rationalist Harry Potter fanfic angle to the OpenAI drama. Sam Altman isn’t showing up in Microsoft’s corporate directory yet. Hundreds of OpenAI employees threaten to resign and join Microsoft We’re all trying to find the guy who did this. OpenAI employees are openly criticizing the company’s leadership. Sam Altman has a CEO title inside Microsoft. OpenAI’s new CEO is Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear Microsoft hires former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Sam Altman isn’t coming back to OpenAI The deal to bring Sam Altman back to OpenAI appears to be going sideways. The OpenAI negotiations are being fueled by boba tea and McDonalds. It’s the endgame for Sam Altman’s potential return to OpenAI. Why OpenAI employees were posting all those heart emojis. About that new venture. Where we are with the Sam Altman saga. The OpenAI drama will drag on until Sunday. The OpenAI board is waffling on resigning, and that might push Sam Altman to start a new company after all. More on the pressure for OpenAI’s board to restore Sam Altman as CEO. OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO Sam Altman says he has a new venture in mind. OpenAI’s COO told employees that Sam Altman wasn’t fired for “malfeasance.” Three high-level OpenAI researchers have quit. This is how OpenAI fired its CEO, Sam Altman. What happened to Sam Altman? OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman is leaving, too Sam Altman makes his first statement after getting ousted from OpenAI. Sam Altman fired as CEO of OpenAI OpenAI is letting anyone create their own version of ChatGPT ChatGPT continues to be one of the fastest-growing services ever
