Sam Altman’s dismissal that shocked the world results in Microsoft’s victory

Co-founder Ilya Sutskever, who led Altman’s ouster, remains the biggest loser

“I love OpenAI, and everything I’ve done over the past few days has been to protect the team and its mission. “When I decided to join Microsoft (MS) on Sunday evening, it was the best path for me and OpenAI.”

This is the content of a post posted by Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, on his X (formerly Twitter) account on November 22 (local time). On November 17, Altman was suddenly fired by the Open AI board of directors and decided to go to Microsoft, but five days later, on the 22nd, he returned as Open AI CEO with a new board of directors. Like Apple founder Steve Jobs, he was almost kicked out of the company he founded, but the situation was barely resolved.

A post posted by CEO Altman on the [샘 올트먼 X(옛 트위터) 캡처]

The existing Open AI board cited ‘honesty’ as the reason for deciding to dismiss Altman. The board of directors announced the dismissal on November 17, saying, “Altman has not been consistently honest in his communications with the board,” and added, “The board is no longer confident in Altman’s ability to continue leading OpenAI.” He said. However, since the specific background was not disclosed, speculation surrounding Altman’s ouster was rampant. Later, as Open AI was in turmoil, OpenAI Chief Operating Officer Brad Wrightcap issued a memo saying, “The board of directors’ decision is not related to any wrongdoing, the company’s finances, business, safety, or security or privacy issues.” was sent to all employees, CNBC reported.

Altman announced his decision to join Microsoft immediately after being ousted from OpenAI. MS is not only in a partnership with OpenAI for the development of generative artificial intelligence (AI), but is also a major shareholder with a 49% stake in OpenAI. Nevertheless, the news of Altman’s dismissal was reported to Microsoft late, and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was reportedly very angry. However, Nadella took this as an opportunity to embrace Altman himself. On November 20, when Altman decided to join Microsoft, Microsoft’s stock price reached an all-time high of $377.44 (about 490,000 won), up 2.05% from the previous trading day (see graph).

Altman’s return to Open AI was largely driven by strong opposition from Open AI employees. According to the New York Times (NYT) on November 20, Open AI employees circulated a statement within the company saying, “If the board of directors resigns and CEO Altman does not return, all employees will follow CEO Altman and move to Microsoft.” . More than 700 out of 770 Open AI employees participated in this statement. As internal backlash arose, co-founder Ilya Sutskever, who led the dismissal of Altman, expressed his feelings through his Altman expressed his hopes for his return to Open AI by leaving a heart emoticon on Open AI employees demanding his return and co-founder Sutz Kever’s X post.

Altman eventually made a spectacular comeback on November 21, five days after his dismissal. With his return, a large-scale change is underway in the Open AI board of directors. Altman’s leadership is expected to become even stronger as former Salesforce co-CEO Brett Taylor, who is considered an ally of Altman, and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, who is a proponent of generative AI development and adds weight to the organization, join the board of directors. Of the four existing board members, only CEO Adam DeAngelo decided to remain. The new board of directors is expected to have a total of 9 members, and some of the Microsoft personnel who played an important role in Altman’s ouster are also expected to be named.

Experts point out Microsoft as the beneficiary of this situation. Cho Seong-bae, dean of the Graduate School of AI at Yonsei University, said, “Nothing specific is known, but the general consensus is that Altman’s expulsion is the result of a clash between the Doomer board of directors and Boomer Altman over the development of generative AI.” He explained, “As Altman was victorious here and MS helped in the process, in the future OpenAI will seek to speed up the commercialization of AI with MS, which is very welcome from MS’s perspective.” On the other hand, there is an analysis that Sutskever, who led Altman’s ouster, was excluded from the board of directors and failed to protect his cause of ‘AI safety development’, leaving him as the biggest loser in this situation.

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Mark

Mark Jones is a world traveler and journalist for News Rebeat. With a curious mind and a love of adventure, Mark brings a unique perspective to the latest global events and provides in-depth and thought-provoking coverage of the world at large.