Sam Altman returns as OpenAI CEO with Microsoft support

WASHINGTON: The Board of Directors sacked him. He in turn fired the Board of Directors. In a head-spinning move on Tuesday, Sam Altman was reinstated as the CEO of OpenAI five days after he was shunted out, following a mass revolt among the 800-member staff who threatened to decamp with him to Microsoft.

As it turned out, the Board that fired Altman itself split, with one leading member, Adam D’Angelo, having second thoughts amid the staff protest that would have landed the entire company in Microsoft’s lap.

But on Tuesday night it was announced Altman would return as CEO with a newly constituted board including former Twitter chair Bret Taylor, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and D’Angelo, who had voted to oust Altman, the only holdover.