“Incredibly Proud”: Sam Altman’s Praise For Former Colleagues At OpenAI

A day after his upcoming assignment at Microsoft made headlines, OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman said his colleagues at the company that fired him days back have been doing an “incredible job” that will “be in the history books”.

He said he is “incredibly proud of them” and excited that they are going to work together “some way or other”. “One team, one mission,” he said in a post on X.

the openai leadership team, particularly mira brad and jason but really all of them, have been doing an incredible job through this that will be in the history books.

incredibly proud of them.

— Sam Altman (@sama) November 20, 2023

“The openai leadership team, particularly mira brad and jason but really all of them, have been doing an incredible job through this that will be in the history books. incredibly proud of them,” Altman posted on X.

we have more unity and commitment and focus than ever before.

we are all going to work together some way or other, and i’m so excited.

one team, one mission.

— Sam Altman (@sama) November 20, 2023

Altman, former CEO of OpenAI that created the revolutionary ChatGPT, is joining Microsoft with former OpenAI president Greg Brockman to lead a new team for advanced research in Artificial Intelligence, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced yesterday.

Microsoft is OpenAI’s largest shareholder and has reportedly invested more than $13 billion in the organisation.

satya and my top priority remains to ensure openai continues to thrive

we are committed to fully providing continuity of operations to our partners and customers

the openai/microsoft partnership makes this very doable

— Sam Altman (@sama) November 20, 2023

“Satya and my top priority remains to ensure openai continues to thrive. We are committed to fully providing continuity of operations to our partners and customers. The openai/microsoft partnership makes this very doable,” Altman posted on X.

Nadella’s announcement about Altman coming on board followed high drama that started with the surprise sacking of the OpenAI co-founder. He was fired over a Google Meet call Friday, according to a post on X by Brockman. The next day, Brockman was told over a separate Google Meet call that he was being removed from the board but would retain his role because he was “vital to the company”.

Both decisions, Brockman said in his post, were conveyed by Ilya Sutskever, co-founder and Chief Scientist at OpenAI. “Sam and I are shocked and saddened by what the board did today,” Brockman said in his post Saturday.

A statement from Microsoft-backed OpenAI said Altman’s departure follows a “deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities”. “The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI,” the statement added.

The move sent shockwaves through the tech industry. Soon after, US media reports claimed that major investors in OpenAI wanted Altman to return and had started efforts to reach out to him. The attempts to bring him back, reports said, hit a roadblock after Altman demanded sweeping changes, including the removal of current board members, as a condition to return.

According to a Reuters report, OpenAI’s staff has threatened to quit and join Altman at Microsoft’s new division unless the board resigns.

Apart from Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, Chief Data Scientist Ilya Sutskever, and Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap, about 500 staff members said they would resign, the report said.