Now it is official. A week after the initial agreement, OpenAI announced this Wednesday that Sam Altman would once again take over the management of the company, although he will not be a member of the board, at least for the time being. Only one council member survives, Adam D’Angelo, who is joined by Bret Taylor, the council’s new president, and member Larry Summers. There is a novelty: Microsoft joins the council as an observer, but without voting rights. The official announcement was accompanied by a message of thanks from Altman, in which he also outlined his priorities. After a hectic few weeks, Altman admits, “I’m sure books will be written about this time.”
Among those priorities is improving the governance of OpenAI itself. A very small board has brought the company that popularized artificial intelligence with its ChatGPT to the brink of extinction. Now the three city councilors will be tasked with forming a council with diverse perspectives, improving the government structure and overseeing an independent investigation into what happened. “I look forward to working closely with them on these critical steps so that everyone can be a part of this,” Altman said.
“We will build a qualified and diverse board of exceptional people whose collective experience represents the breadth of OpenAI’s mission, from technology to security and policy. “We are pleased that this board includes a non-voting observer from Microsoft,” indicated in another message new president Bret Taylor, who also announced the creation of an independent committee of the board to oversee a review of recent events. “We will improve OpenAI’s governance structure so that everyone involved – users, customers, employees, partners and community members – can have confidence that OpenAI will continue to thrive,” Taylor added.
Altman also pointed to the computer giant’s management, starting with Satya Nadella, its CEO: “They have been incredible partners in all of this and had exactly the right priorities at all times.” They had our backs and were ready to welcome us all, if we couldn’t achieve our main goal. “We clearly made the right decision to work with Microsoft and I am pleased that our new board is accepting them as a non-voting observer,” reveals Altman.
Microsoft has invested $13 billion in the company, but this does not give it any political rights. He learned of Altman’s firing shortly before it became public. The company, which has a lot at stake in OpenAI, wants new guarantees or at least not to face another scare like the recent one without prior notice. Money has prevailed in resolving the crisis, as OpenAI’s high valuation will make much of its employees millionaires and attract investments to fund its research.
In addition to governance changes, Altman says research and customers are the other two immediate priorities. This means, on the one hand, advancing the research plan as the company invests more in security, and on the other hand, continuing to improve and implement the products and serve customers.
Altman returns as CEO and Mira Murati, his interim successor, returns to the role of Chief Technology Officer. “I have never been so excited about the future. I am extremely grateful to everyone for their hard work in an unclear and unprecedented situation and believe our resilience and spirit sets us apart in the industry. “I feel very, very good about our prospects for success in achieving our mission,” Altman said in his statement.
“To all of you, our team: I’m sure books will be written about this time, and I hope you’ll be the first to say how wonderful the entire team was. After going through all of this, we haven’t lost a single employee. They stood strong for each other, for this company and for our mission. One of the most important things for safe AI team building is the ability to handle stressful and uncertain situations and maintain good judgment at all times. The best grades. Thank you all”. The head of OpenAI is so grateful that he even thanks those who fired him. He also thanks Brian Chesky, CEO of Airbnb, who acted as an intermediary to calm the situation.
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