Microsoft scoops up ex-OpenAI CEO Sam Altman after surprise firing
Raimond Spekking/Getty for TechcrunchSam Altman, now the ex-CEO of OpenAI has been snapped up by Microsoft in a surprise hiring after he was sacked from the ChatGPT developers.
Over the weekend OpenAI sacked its founder and CEO, Sam Altman. The reasoning behind the firing was due to a lack of confidence after a review. On the blog, they stated they had “concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board”.
The AI leader has now been hired by Microsoft in another surprise turn of events. Altman now works for what used to be OpenAI’s biggest investors.
Microsoft has integrated OpenAI’s ChatGPT software into almost every facet of its software offerings. This includes the recently renamed Bing Chat and Windows Copilot, which now directly offers an AI within the operating system itself.
Altman will be joined by his co-founder, Greg Brockman, who was also President of OpenAI.
Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, posted on Twitter/X welcoming the duo, as well as adding that they will “remain committed” to the joint venture between OpenAI and Microsoft. Elon Musk, who recently attempted to “burn” ChatGPT and OpenAI with Grok – his company’s chatbot – commented that they’ll have to use Microsoft Teams.
Microsoft hires Sam Altman and Greg Brockman of OpenAI in shock twist
OpenAIMicrosoft was reported to have invested an estimated $10 billion into the company. Reports are now stating that the Seattle conglomerate has only paid a “fraction” of the money.
The move to hire Sam Altman and Greg Brockman comes as a surprise, but Microsoft has been ramping up its AI development for quite some time. Most recently, the company developed its own chips specifically for AI use.
OpenAI came into prominence early this year, as it launched ChatGPT and a series of updates to its AI suite. Most recently – on November 6 – Sam Altman announced that new tools would be released to allow anyone to create their variation on ChatGPT.