OpenAI to add Microsoft as board observer, plans governance changes

San Francisco – OpenAI said Mr Sam Altman was officially reinstated as chief executive officer and that it had a new initial board of directors, with Microsoft joining as a non-voting observer.

The announcement on Nov 29 in a blog post penned by Mr Altman came two weeks after the shock firing of the CEO from the artificial intelligence (AI) start-up, followed by an operatic boardroom power struggle.

OpenAI also said that Ms Mira Murati – who had been chief technology officer until Mr Altman’s ouster, when she was briefly named interim CEO – was once again the company’s CTO. OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman will return as the company’s president after he quit in protest over the firing of Mr Altman.

Microsoft, the company’s largest investor, had not previously had a position on the board before it took the observer role. The new directors are Mr Bret Taylor, the former co-CEO of Salesforce, who will be the chairman; Professor Larry Summers, a former US Treasury secretary; and Mr Adam D’Angelo, a holdover from the previous board and the CEO of question-and-answer site Quora. One of the directors’ primary tasks will be to build up a new, more permanent board.

In an interview on Nov 29, Mr Altman said the permanent board would be selected “fairly quickly”. He did not say how many people would eventually be part of the group, but did say that it would be “significantly enlarged” from the current number. Asked whether he will rejoin the board, Mr Altman said it was “not a top priority” right now.

“I have never been more excited about the future,” Mr Altman wrote in the blog post, adding that he was “extremely grateful for everyone’s hard work in an unclear and unprecedented situation”.

In a note accompanying Mr Altman’s post, Mr Taylor said the new board members would focus on building a “qualified, diverse board”. He also said the company would “enhance the governance structure of OpenAI”. The start-up has been criticised for a structure that allowed a non-profit board to oust the company’s CEO without consulting its largest investors.

OpenAI began in 2015 as a non-profit research organisation, but later shifted its structure to include a for-profit start-up that has solicited investments and entered into partnerships with companies such as Microsoft to use its AI tools. The company is slated to be valued at US$86 billion (S$114.5 billion) in a planned tender offer that will let some employees sell their stakes to outside investors.

Mr Taylor said that as part of an effort to “further stabilise the OpenAI organisation”, the company would convene an “independent committee of the board to oversee a review of the recent events”.

Previously, Bloomberg reported that Mr Altman agreed to an internal investigation of the conduct that led to his dismissal. He said in the interview that the new board members would oversee the inquiry and he “welcomes” it.

Prof Summers said he would focus on increasing the size of OpenAI’s board and improving governance procedures for both the non-profit and for-profit parts of its business. In an interview, he said the directors would undertake a “serious review and learn all the appropriate lessons”, but added that he did not have any immediate comments on the investigation.

Dr Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s chief scientist and co-founder, was part of the board that fired Mr Altman. Later, Dr Sutskever said that he regretted his role in the CEO’s ouster. In his blog post, Mr Altman wrote that Dr Sutskever would not be a board member, but that the company was “discussing how he can continue his work at OpenAI”.

Directors Helen Toner and Tasha McCauley will no longer be on the board. In a post on X, formerly Twitter, Ms Toner said she officially resigned and added that she would be continuing her work “focused on AI policy, safety and security”.

Mr Altman’s dismissal on Nov 17 from OpenAI, maker of the popular ChatGPT chatbot, shocked the tech industry. That day, the board said in a statement that Mr Altman was not “consistently candid” with OpenAI’s directors, “hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities”.

The decision touched off a whirlwind five days at the company: Mr Brockman, OpenAI co-founder and president, quit in protest. Ms Murati became interim CEO, moved to rehire Mr Altman, and was soon replaced as CEO by the board. Meanwhile, nearly all of OpenAI’s roughly 770 employees signed a letter threatening to quit unless Mr Altman was reinstated.

On Nov 21, OpenAI said it reached a deal, in principle, to reinstate Mr Altman as CEO and replace the board.

In Nov 29’s post, Mr Altman said that the company’s priorities going forward would be advancing its research, improving its governance structure and refocusing on its products. In the leadership chaos, some of the company’s customers had questioned how much to rely on the start-up for their AI needs. Mr Altman said that OpenAI did not lose any customers during the period in which he was ousted and then returned.

Asked how the start-up plans to move beyond the events of the past few weeks, Ms Murati said OpenAI would aim to make sure that customers knew it was fully committed. “We need to get back to stability and get back on track this week,” she said.

After all that had happened, Mr Altman said he felt tired, but also “more excitement and conviction than I’ve ever felt before”. BLOOMBERG