Sam Altman confirmed on Wednesday that he was returning to the helm at OpenAI as CEO, nearly two weeks after he was ousted from the company he co-founded.
In a blog post on OpenAI, Altman said he was returning, his replacement would resume her previous role, and the new initial board will consist of Bret Taylor as chair, Larry Summers and Adam D’Angelo.
"I have never been more excited about the future," Altman said. "I am extremely grateful for everyone’s hard work in an unclear and unprecedented situation, and I believe our resilience and spirit set us apart in the industry. I feel so, so good about our probability of success for achieving our mission."
OPENAI BRINGS BACK SAM ALTMAN AS CEO, ESTABLISHES NEW BOARD DAYS AFTER CO-FOUNDER'S OUSTER
The confirmation comes just eight days after OpenAI wrote on X that Altman was returning and that the board would include Taylor, Summers and D’Angelo, the latter of whom is the only member who was on the board that decided to drop Altman on Nov. 17.
Ilya Sutskever, who co-founded the company, will no longer serve on the board, Altman wrote, and the two are discussing how Sutskever can continue his work at OpenAI.
"I love and respect Ilya, I think he’s a guiding light of the field and a gem of a human being," Altman said. "I harbor zero ill will towards him."
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OpenAI Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, who was appointed as interim CEO when Altman was ousted, will resume her previous duties.
Altman then went into three immediate priorities for the company, which are advancing the research plan, continuing to improve and deploy products while serving customers, and expanding its board.
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Taylor also issued a statement to the company in which he expressed gratitude to those who came together to find a path forward, while also pledging to strengthen OpenAI’s corporate governance.
"We will build a qualified, diverse Board of exceptional individuals whose collective experience represents the breadth of OpenAI’s mission — from technology to safety to policy," Taylor said. "We are pleased that this Board will include a non-voting observer for Microsoft."
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OpenAI was in turmoil following Altman's ouster as nearly all of the company's 770 or so employees signed a letter threatening to join Altman at Microsoft unless he was reinstated, and the board stepped down.
