CEO Satya Nadella has announced that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman will be joining Microsoft along with other colleagues.
“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,” Nadella wrote on X (formerly Twitter).
“We look forward to getting to know Emmett Shear and OAI’s new leadership team and working with them. And we’re extremely excited to share the news that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, together with colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team. We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success,” he added.
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According to Bloomberg, which cited people familiar with the situation, the OpenAI board rejected investor demands to bring back expelled CEO Sam Altman by appointing Emmett Shear, the former head of Twitch, as CEO.
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Shear left his position as CEO of Twitch, the game-streaming website owned by Amazon.com Inc., earlier in 2023. One of the Bloomberg sources claims that he made an impression on the directors due to his prior awareness of the existential risks posed by AI.
The company that created ChatGPT, OpenaI, is Microsoft’s largest AI investment. The $13 billion wager included Altman in addition to the firm. Although it did try to get Altman back, Microsoft, which owns nearly half of the business, was unable to change the board. Following Altman’s termination on November 17, the company’s stock dropped.
According to rumors, Nadella had already promised Altman support for his future endeavors. According to people with knowledge of the matter, Nadella was taken aback by the board’s choice.
For what reason does Satya Nadella back Sam Altman?
As soon as Altman was let go by the board, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella allegedly promised to stand by him. It is also said that Nadella is spearheading talks between two groups within the firm to reinstate Altman as CEO.
Microsoft’s continued support of OpenAI may have something to do with the significant investment the Windows manufacturer put in the firm. The remarkable contribution of OpenAI technology to the company’s product improvements could be another.
For instance, Microsoft has significantly improved its products with OpenAI technology in only the past year. One such product is the Bing search engine, which is currently powered by OpenAI’s GPT-4 and Windows 11 co-pilot.
