Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures and Tiger Global Management are looking to protect their investments after OpenAI ’s board forced Altman out on November 17. Sam Altman is eager to return, Bloomberg reported.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella and other investors spent the weekend trying to bring Sam Altman and former OpenAI President Greg Brockman back to the company they co-founded.
On the evening of November 19, interim Open AI CEO Mira Murati told a board member about the plan to bring them back, but instead, the directors decided to name former CEO Emmett Shear as OpenAI CEO, bypassing Murati and investors.
Not long after, Microsoft—OpenAI’s largest investor to date—announced it would hire Altman, Brockman, and other colleagues for its new artificial intelligence (AI) division.
Still, the software giant backed Altman and Brockman’s return to OpenAI under a few key conditions: the startup’s board of directors had to resign and governance had to change to ensure such a change never happened again, Bloomberg’s sources said.
“Wherever Sam is, he is working with Microsoft,” Mr. Nadella said in an interview with Bloomberg on November 20.
Microsoft's primary goal is to ensure continued access to cutting-edge AI technology for customers and partners. The company may consider a larger role on OpenAI's board.
Despite previous concerns about angering regulators, the company believes that stabilizing its partnership with OpenAI is more important than legal risks.
Investors led by Thrive Capital are also planning to buy shares from OpenAI employees, a deal that could value OpenAI at $86 billion.
Despite the turmoil within the startup, Thrive still wants to continue its plan, assuming it can bring Altman back.
Ilya Sutskever, an OpenAI board member and chief scientist , tweeted an apology on the morning of November 20, expressing regret for his role in Altman's firing.
Meanwhile, most of the company's employees threatened to quit if Altman did not return.
The remaining board members who opposed Sam were Quora CEO Adam D'Angelo, former GeoSim Systems CEO Tasha McCauley, and Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology strategy director Helen Toner.
According to some sources, some investors are looking to sue OpenAI's board of directors.
(According to Bloomberg)
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