In a shock move reported early Wednesday morning, OpenAI has moved to rehire its former chief executive officer (CEO) Sam Altman. This comes days after Altman was ousted by OpenAI’s board of directors. After his ouster, Microsoft (NASDAQ:MFST) moved to recruit Altman to head their artificial intelligence (AI) development team.
One year ago, the launching of ChatGPT captured the attention of the world. At the time, the large language model-based chatbot was the most advanced of its kind. Users were stunned that it could spit out highly sophisticated responses on a wide variety of topics. OpenAI developed the chatbot, which has since spawned a series of imitators.
Sam Altman was one of the original fundraisers for OpenAI when it was in its very early stages. On November 17, 2023, the board of directors for OpenAI announced that they had made the decision to oust Altman as chief executive officer (CEO). The board stated that Altman “was not consistently candid in his communications”. Some reports indicated that the board held discussions to bring Altman back the day after his ousting, as his departure had stirred outrage among hundreds of OpenAI employees.
The reversal has the potential to inject some much-needed confidence into OpenAI’s team as the company is faced with a slew of new competitors to its revolutionary chatbot. Altman’s speedy return should act as a stabilizing force in the near term. AI is a space that is generating huge buzz in the tech space, and OpenAI remains one of the most exciting players going forward.
