Tech

Microsoft hires former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman after a weekend of chaos

A composite image of Sam Altman and Satya Nadella
OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Joel Saget/AFP and Loren Elliott via Getty Images
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Former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is joining Microsoft.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced on Monday that he was adding both Altman and Greg Brockman, the former OpenAI president, to the company's ranks.

"We're 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," Nadella said in a post on X. "We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success."

In the post, Nadella also said the company remained committed to its partnership with OpenAI and looked forward "to getting to know Emmett Shear and OAI's new leadership team and working with them."

Altman reshared Nadella's post, adding, "The mission continues."

Altman was ousted from OpenAI in a dramatic board decision Friday. The nonprofit board of the company behind ChatGPT said it no longer had "confidence in his ability to continue leading."

The decision was met with shock from the tech community, and three other researchers were reported to have followed the CEO out the door.

Over a chaotic weekend, the board appeared to consider reversing the Altman decision, with the former CEO even pictured in the company headquarters. But The Verge reported that these discussions later fell apart and that the board named Emmett Shear, Twitch's cofounder and former CEO, as Open AI's interim CEO.

Shear is set to take over the role from Mira Murati, the company's former chief technology officer, who had publicly expressed support for Altman.

Representatives for Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.

In a post on X, Brockman said the new Microsoft team would consist of him, Altman, Aleksander Madry, Szymon Sidor, and Jakub Pachocki. He said the team planned to "build something new" and "incredible."

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Beatrice Nolan was a tech reporter on the business news team in the UK. She joined Insider in January 2022 as a fellow on Business Insider's careers desk. Beatrice covered tech and the future of work, with a focus on artificial intelligence. Some of her stories and early experiments with ChatGPT are widely cited. Beatrice has also discussed her work covering AI trends on panels and radio shows, including NPR.She was based in Business Insider's London office and graduated from the University of  York with a bachelor's degree in English.Featured Articles:Artists say AI image generators are copying their style to make thousands of new images — and it's completely out of their control.ChatGPT was a black swan eventFinland is the world's happiest country, but Finns say we're confusing happiness for something elseThe world is splitting between those who use ChatGPT to get better, smarter, richer — and everyone elseThis man used AI to write and illustrate a children's book in one weekend. He wasn't prepared for the backlash.ChatGPT has only been around for 2 months and is causing untold chaosTwo professors who say they caught students cheating on essays with ChatGPT explain why AI plagiarism can be hard to proveChatGPT wrote college application essays. Admissions professionals said they passed for essays written by students but wouldn't have a chance at any top colleges.College professors are considering creative ways to stop students from using AI to cheatChatGPT wrote my cover letters. Here's how recruiters responded.