OpenAI interim CEO threatens to quit unless board provides evidence of Sam Altman’s wrongdoing

The OpenAI saga continues to change by the minute. Barely a day into his role as interim CEO of OpenAI, Emmett Shear has reportedly issued an ultimatum to the board to provide evidence of any wrongdoing by Sam Altman, or he’s prepared to step down, Bloomberg’s Emily Chang posted on X.

The news comes just a day after the OpenAI board appointed Emmett Shear, co-founder and former CEO of Twitch, to replace Mira Murati as the interim CEO, adding that Shear has a  “unique mix of skills, expertise, and relationships that will drive OpenAI forward.”

Per the post, there are ongoing discussions between former CEO Sam Altman and the OpenAI board regarding the potential return of Altman to the company he co-founded eight years ago. One of the possibilities being explored is Altman taking on a role as a director within the company.

“-@Sama and the OpenAI board are now in talks for his possible return, specifically he’s speaking with
@adamdangelo
– one scenario, transition board where Sam would serve as director
– meantime @eshear has told folks he will leave if the board can’t provide evidence of wrongdoing,” Chang posted.

Update:

– @Sama and the OpenAI board are now in talks for his possible return, specifically he's speaking with @adamdangelo
– one scenario, transition board where Sam would serve as director
– meantime @eshear has told folks he will leave if the board can't provide evidence of…

— Emily Chang (@emilychangtv) November 21, 2023

According to the report, people familiar with the matter told Bloomberg that negotiations are currently underway between Altman and at least one board member, Adam D’Angelo. The talks, which involve some of OpenAI’s investors advocating for Altman’s reinstatement, are still in progress, and the outcome remains uncertain. The sources requested anonymity as the discussions are private and may not reach a resolution.

“Sam Altman and members of the OpenAI board have opened negotiations aimed at a possible return of the ousted co-founder and chief executive officer to the artificial intelligence company, according to people with knowledge of the matter. Discussions are happening between Altman and at least one board member, Adam D’Angelo, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the deliberations are private and they may not come to fruition. The talks also involve some of OpenAI’s investors, many of whom are pushing for his reinstatement, one of the people said,” Bloomberg reported.

OpenAI was founded in 2015 by Elon Musk and Sam Altman as a non-profit research institution with a singular mission to forge the path toward the creation of safe and advantageous artificial general intelligence (AGI). Throughout its journey, OpenAI has built a series of remarkable AI systems, among them the influential GPT-3 language model and the innovative DALL-E 2 image generation model. The company has received at least $13 billion in investment from Microsoft and is reportedly valued at $86 billion.