In my reporting, the best explanation I’ve heard for the board’s decision, as poorly communicated as it was, is that it fired Altman for the precise reason it said it fired Altman.
“It would be wise to view any investment in OpenAI Global LLC in the spirit of a donation,” it warned.
Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive, didn’t have the power to stop OpenAI’s board from firing Altman, but he did have the power to render the action hollow.
He announced a new advanced innovations division, to be led by Altman (and the OpenAI president Greg Brockman, who resigned in solidarity with Altman) and staffed by any OpenAI employees who’d like to join.
By Wednesday, Altman was back as chief executive of OpenAI and all but one of the board members had resigned.
Persons:
I’ve, Altman, ”, OpenAI, Helen Toner, ” OpenAI, Satya Nadella, didn’t, Greg Brockman, weirdly, Ilya Sutskever, who’d, —, Meta’s
Organizations:
Microsoft, Google, OpenAI