Microsoft has reportedly thrown its full support behind fired OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in his bid to return to the company’s top job. The tech giant invested about $13 million in OpenAI and owns 49% of the company, but received almost no notice before the high-profile AI startup’s CEO was ousted.
Why is Satya Nadella supporting Sam Altman?
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella reportedly pledged his support for Altman immediately after he was fired from the board. Nadella is also said to be leading negotiations between two factions in the company to bring Altman back as CEO.
One of the reasons for Microsoft’s persistence behind OpenAI could be the huge investment the Windows maker made in the startup. Another could be the effective role of OpenAI technology in significantly improving the company’s products.
For example, in the last year alone, Microsoft has used OpenAI technology to make significant improvements to its products, including its Bing search engine, which now runs on OpenAI’s GPT-4 copilot and Windows 11.
According to a Reuters report citing The Information, Microsoft is also likely to take a role on the board if Altman returns to the company. The company, led by Satya Nadella, could take either a seat on the board or as a non-voting observer.
Board is looking to find a different CEO:
Mira Murati, co-founder of OpenAI and interim CEO of creator ChatGPT, is working to bring Sam Altman and Greg Brockman back to the company. Altman is said to be negotiating his return to the company, with one of the conditions being the removal of the board that unceremoniously fired him as CEO just 2 days ago.
In addition to Murati, OpenAI investors including Microsoft, Thrive Capital and Global Management are said to be supporting Altman’s push to be reinstated as CEO of OpenAI and are pushing for the board to resign.
Meanwhile, board members are working to find another CEO to lead the company and have already reached out to two prominent technology executives, Bloomberg reported.
Why was Sam Altman removed as CEO of OpenAI?
According to a Bloomberg report, Altman and other board members disagreed on how to make OpenAI a successful business. Board members were concerned about the speed with which Altman wanted OpenAI to launch new products, neglecting AI security concerns.
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Updated: 20 Nov 2023, 11:39 IST