The drama around OpenAI just doesn’t seem to want to stop at the moment. While it was reported earlier that the co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, was dismissed by the board, it now seems that the dynamic innovator has pulled an Uno Reverse on the company, as he now appears to be at the OpenAI headquarters in San Francisco alongside former president of OpenAI Grecg Brockman, negotiating his immediate re-instatement to the company.
Newly appointed CEO, Mira Murati was reportedly the one to push for Altman’s re-instatement, and it was she who invited both Altman and Brockman to the HQ to negotiate terms. In a tweet published by Altman later in the day, he appears to be wearing a ‘Guest’ ID, indicating that the meeting is set to get underway.
The negotiations have been put forward with one stipulation. The board has only until 5 PM PT, to come to an agreement. The end result?
Either the board leaves, or Altman does, and this time presumably, for good.
When Altman was unceremoniously fired from his position, Brockman resigned in solidarity, and this triggered a slew of high ranking officials at OpenAI to follow suit. This led to more backlash towards the board, who seemed to switch to damage control to mitigate some of the anger.
Altman, who has emerged the winner in this ordeal, has open stated that he is open to a return, only if the board resigns as a whole and a few more changes are made towards the governance of the company. It remains to be seen what comes of the whole situation.
Prior to this whole boil over, Altman was preparing a fundraising campaign for a custom AI chip, nicknamed ‘Tigris’, that was to rival the likes of Nvidia. He was also preparing to raise funds for a hardware collaboration was ex-Apple design head Jony Ive. If he was to come back to OpenAI, we hope to see these projects come to life.
Do you think Altman should return to OpenAI or start another venture with the people who back him?
Let us know in the comments section!
