OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman returns to AI startup

OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman has returned to the company three months after stepping away as president. On Tuesday, he shared on X that his “longest vacation” was over and that he was “back to building OpenAI.”

Back in August, Brockman announced a sabbatical planned to last until the year’s end, a break now officially concluded, according to an OpenAI spokesperson.

His return follows a wave of notable exits from the Microsoft-backed company, including those of former Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, and co-founders John Schulman and Ilya Sutskever. Both Sutskever and Murati have since moved on to launch their own AI ventures.

“Longest vacation of my life complete. back to building @OpenAI,” Brockman said on X.

longest vacation of my life complete. back to building @OpenAI.

— Greg Brockman (@gdb) November 12, 2024

According to a report from Bloomberg News, Brockman has been collaborating with CEO Sam Altman to develop a new role that will allow him to tackle key technical challenges.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman also made his way back in November 2023 after a brief but turbulent departure initiated by the company’s board, who offered little explanation for his removal.

Brockman reenters OpenAI just over a month after the company’s latest funding round, which closed with a $157 billion valuation. During his absence, OpenAI saw several leadership shifts and faced increased scrutiny over its plans to transition to a for-profit model and the decision to disband some safety teams.

In late September, Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati announced she was leaving after more than six years. That same day, Bob McGrew, research chief, and Barret Zoph, vice president of research, also shared they’d be moving on.

In May, co-founder Ilya Sutskever and safety lead Jan Leike also departed from the company, with Leike joining competitor Anthropic. Co-founder John Schulman followed in August, also heading to Anthropic, while Lilian Weng, vice president of research and safety, marked her departure just last week after a seven-year tenure.

Brockman has been a long-standing supporter of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, who, after a brief and unexpected firing, returned to lead the company. OpenAI launched as a nonprofit in 2015, initially had Brockman as CTO with Altman as CEO.

Following Altman’s temporary removal, Brockman announced on X that he had quit, expressing that both he and Altman were “shocked and saddened by what the board did today.”