In the early hours of Wednesday morning, OpenAI announced that Sam Altman would return as CEO. The news of his firing last Friday shocked the industry. Over the weekend, it seemed likely that Altman and OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman would join Microsoft to lead a new artificial intelligence research lab. But after days of negotiations, that is no longer the case, and OpenAI has appointed a new board of directors and brought Altman back as the company's CEO.
After a chaotic weekend that included hundreds of OpenAI employees threatening to quit and join Microsoft, things appear to have settled. Microsoft Chief Technology Officer and Executive Vice President of Artificial Intelligence Kevin Scott has spoken to Microsoft employees about the turmoil at OpenAI. Aside from CEO Satya Nadella's announcement on Sunday that Altman would not be hired, and the initial reaction to the news on Friday, this is the first time Microsoft has informed employees across the company of the situation.
The full text of the memo posted on Microsoft's internal employee forum is as follows:
As you may have seen by now, OpenAl has appointed new board members. Sam Altman and Greg Brockman have agreed to return to OpenAl, with Sam serving as CEO. The events of the past few days have been full of uncertainty for our colleagues at OpenAl, and of great interest to many others. Throughout this time, our determination and focus to provide our customers and partners with the best aluminum technology platforms and products in the world has not changed or wavered in the slightest. We will continue to support our colleagues at OpenAl and the great work they do with us to achieve this mission. We look forward to continuing to work with Sam and his team as we have for the past 4+ years.
While the past few days may have distracted us, scientists and engineers at Microsoft and OpenAl have been working with an undiminished sense of urgency. Since last Friday, new AI computing has been deployed in Azure, our newly formed MSRAlFrontiers organization released their new cutting-edge research Orca2, and OpenAl continues to roll out products such as the new voice capabilities in ChatGPT launched yesterday. For the average team, any one of these accomplishments alone would be a quarter's worth of accomplishments. To have three of these achievements in one week, while also being a major holiday in the United States and with so much noise surrounding it, speaks volumes about everyone's commitment, focus and sense of urgency. I am humbled and excited to be joining such an amazing team at Microsoft and have the privilege of working with the OpenAl team.
On behalf of the SLT (Senior Leadership Team) I would like to thank everyone for their determination and to thank the large number of people who have helped in various ways over the past few days: we are very grateful.
Nadella made it clear during appearances on Bloomberg TV and CNBC on Monday that Microsoft was excited to return Altman and Brockman to OpenAI. "[We're] committed to OpenAI and SAM, regardless of configuration," he told CNBC, adding that Microsoft "chooses to work explicitly with OpenAI and [obviously] it depends on whether OpenAI employees stay there or come to Microsoft, so I'm open to both options."
Kevin Scott, who sent today's memo, is the head of Microsoft's artificial intelligence department. Is there really room for two senior AI leaders within Microsoft? I guess now we'll never know.