After five days of turmoil at OpenAI following the firing of CEO Sam Altman, and much support from investors and employees, the company has confirmed that he is returning as Chief Executive, together with a board reshuffle.
The drama at OpenAI began last Friday when board members Ilya Sutskever, Adam D'Angelo, Tasha McCauley and Helen Toner fired company co-founder and CEO Sam Altman, with Chairman and President Greg Brockman also exiting after being removed from the board.
Though the reasons behind the move have not been fully explained, chaos ensued in the days following, including a groundswell of support for Altman from employees – 95% of whom threatened to quit if the old leadership wasn't restored.
Microsoft stepped into the fray and offered Altman and Brockman jobs, and an interim CEO put in place, in the shape of former Twitch chief Emmett Shear.
A couple of hours ago, OpenAI posted an update to X stating that an "agreement in principle" had been reached to secure the return of Altman as CEO, but that the fine print was still being worked on. The same post also revealed a board shake up, with everyone apart from D'Angelo gone, who has now been joined by Bret Taylor and Larry Summers on an interim board.
Post's from Altman and Brockman confirmed their return, with the latter following up with a photo of smiles all around at OpenAI and a message of appreciation to the 710+ employees who stood by the leadership team.
The dust is still settling on the story, but it seems that the chaotic drama is almost at an end.
Source: OpenAI