OpenAI decided to make Sam Altman CEO again, just five days after removing him from the position.
In a post on X early this morning, OpenAI said:
"We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D'Angelo. We are collaborating to figure out the details. Thank you so much for your patience through this."
As The Verge reports, former president Greg Brockman is also set to return after he quit in protest of Altman being removed. Adam D'Angelo was part of the previous board and is thought to be staying on in order to represent the departing board members. Eventually the new board is expected to expand to nine people, which will include Altman, and Microsoft also understandably wants a seat to ensure some stability going forward.
Such is the rate at which things seem to be changing at OpenAI over the past few days, it's best to take a "we'll believe it when we see it" approach to this news. The Sam Altman saga could still be far from over.
We've previously heard that Altman was going to form his own company, and then Microsoft was hiring him to run a new advanced AI research team. Then yesterday, most of the OpenAI staff vowed to resign unless Altman returned, followed by Microsoft offering them all jobs if they did.
Whatever happens next, I suspect Eminem is on Altman's playlist this morning.
