OpenAI shuts doors, Satya Nadella opens new one for Sam Altman
San Francisco: Putting an end to the high-voltage drama that started last Friday, Microsoft Chairman and CEO Satya Nadella on Monday announced to hire former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman to help the company pursue its advanced AI dreams with a new vertical, also called ‘Sam’.
Altman, who was fired by OpenAI last week, was in discussions with the company’s board for a re-entry but the deal fell apart and the ChatGPT developer hired former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear as interim CEO.
In a post on X, Nadella said they are “extremely excited to share the news that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, together with colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team”.
“We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success,” he added.
Nadella further said that he is super excited to have Altman join as CEO of this new group called “Sam”, setting a new pace for innovation.
"We’ve learned a lot over the years about how to give founders and innovators space to build independent identities and cultures within Microsoft, including GitHub, Mojang Studios, and LinkedIn, and I’m looking forward to having you do the same,” he added.
Ending the intense drama after a weekend of negotiations to potentially bring Altman back to OpenAI, Nadella said that Microsoft remains committed to its partnership with OpenAI and has confidence in its product roadmap, its ability to continue to innovate with everything it announced at the ‘Microsoft Ignite’ event.
“We look forward to getting to know Emmett Shear and OpenAI's new leadership team and working with them,” said Nadella.
Altman replied: “The mission continues”.
Microsoft has invested more than $10 billion in OpenAI.
In January this year, it announced the third phase of its long-term partnership with OpenAI through a multiyear, multibillion dollar investment to accelerate AI breakthroughs to ensure these benefits are broadly shared with the world.