According to Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will be joining the company to head a new advanced AI research team.
On the social media site X, which was formerly known as Twitter, Nadella announced that Altman, along with other colleagues, including former OpenAI president and board chair Greg Brockman, will be joining Microsoft to head a new advanced artificial intelligence research team.
Microsoft, a major player in technology, has made billion-dollar investments in OpenAI and maintains a tight technological alliance with the startup.
Nadella remarked, “We look forward to moving quickly to provide them the resources needed for their success. We are steadfast in our commitment to OpenAI, confident in our product roadmap, our capacity for innovation in light of everything we revealed at Microsoft Ignite, and our ability to support our partners and customers going forward.”
Altman reposted Nadella’s post and added the somewhat cryptic remark, “The mission continues.”
Since 2019, Altman has served as the company’s leader. The board of OpenAI declared late on Friday that Altman would be leaving the company and being temporarily replaced by Mira Murati, the company’s chief technology officer. Altman “was not consistently candid in his communications with the board,” according to the post.
Over the weekend, a group of OpenAI investors persisted in their efforts to reinstate Altman as CEO, despite this.
OpenAI announced late on Sunday night that Emmett Shear, the former CEO of Twitch, will take over as CEO of the artificial intelligence startup. Nadella revealed shortly after that Altman and Brockman, who was relieved of his chairmanship on Friday along with Altman and subsequently resigned from the company, would be internally integrated into the Microsoft team.
On Sunday night, Nadella expressed his excitement about getting to know Shear and the new OpenAI leadership group.
OpenAI, which became well-known this year after launching its ChatGPT chatbot in late 2022, was purportedly in discussions as recently as last month to sell employee shares to investors at a $86 billion valuation. With ChatGPT, users can type in basic text queries and receive responses that can spark longer more in-depth discussions.
