Microsoft has hired OpenAI co-founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman to head up a “new advanced AI research team,” the software conglomerate’s chief Satya Nadella said Monday, capping three days of intense discussions following the unexpected decision by OpenAI’s board to dismiss Altman.
Many OpenAI members, including the co-founder Brockman, left the firm in protest last week. Nadella said Altman and Brockman will be joined by “colleagues.” Brockman said former OpenAI top talent Szymon Sidor, Jakub Pachocki, Aleksander Madry are joining Microsoft with “more” to follow suit. (Curiously missing from the list so far is Mira Murati, the former CTO of OpenAI who was appointed as its interim chief executive following the firing of Altman.)
“We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success,” said Nadella, in what many tech entrepreneurs labelled as an example of “incredible execution.” Brockman said the new team will build “something new & it will be incredible.”
Nadella, whose firm has invested over $10 billion in OpenAI and acquired almost 50% ownership, said the Windows-maker remains committed to the startup. Microsoft was purportedly taken by surprise by the sudden action of OpenAI’s board. It is remarkable that Nadella managed to convince and find a familiar new home for the ex-leaders of OpenAI ahead of the market’s opening on Monday.
Altman has been the public face of OpenAI, the most valuable U.S. startup. It’s not only widely estimated to be leading the current AI race but has in less than a year also assumed the position of kingmaker for thousands of other startups that are building atop of its software offerings. Investment in OpenAI has also supercharged Microsoft’s AI efforts, helping it court many businesses and provide Wall Street with adequate confidence about the decades-old software giant’s future prospects.
Microsoft’s move comes after a tumultuous weekend that saw an unsuccessful attempt by the OpenAI board, its investors, team members and Altman to make the entrepreneur return to the startup. OpenAI board instead elected to hire former Twitch chief executive and co-founder Emmett Shear as its interim chief executive in a move that reportedly shocked Altman. OpenAI didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Earlier over the weekend, Altman also began to pitch a new AI venture to investors, according to the New York Times.
“We remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and have confidence in our product roadmap, our ability to continue to innovate with everything we announced at Microsoft Ignite, and in continuing to support our customers and partners. We look forward to getting to know Emmett Shear and OAI’s new leadership team and working with them,” Nadella added.
The OpenAI board said it had removed Altman because he had not been “consistently candid” in his conversations with them. It didn’t elaborate the reasoning, which angered many OpenAI employees. “The board had a chance to explain their drastic actions and they did not take it,” wrote Andrej Karpathy, a research scientist at OpenAI, on X.
Satya wins.
Reflexes of a startup CEO.
Resources of a trillion dollar company.
Pulls this together in 48 hours from a cold start.
Gets it signed and over the line before markets open. pic.twitter.com/oI3IUvd2Zp
— Balaji (@balajis) November 20, 2023
More to follow.