OpenAI Part III: Microsoft

• Step 1. Get fired
• Step 2. Get re-hired with the board resigning
• Step 3. Actually get hired by a for profit investor instead.

The Verge tells us Microsoft hires former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman:

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that both Sam Altman and Greg Brockman will be joining to lead Microsoft’s new advanced AI research team. Altman will have the CEO title of this new group.

The BBC also reports Sacked OpenAI boss Sam Altman to join Microsoft:

Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella wrote on X, formerly Twitter, that Mr Altman would be joining Microsoft to lead “a new advanced AI research team”.

Meanwhile, ex-Twitch CEO Emmett Shear will become OpenAI’s new interim boss.

So it’s not a single source; and the post from Satya Nadella is kind of a direct source. Note that Microsoft is a “minority owner” into the for profit arm of OpenAI.

Are they pulling the same kind of stunt that Microsoft did with Dave Cutler in the 80s?¹ bringing a bunch of experts loyal to Altman?

• Step 4. Maybe not.

Later today The Verge updates Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO:

He and co-founder Greg Brockman are still willing to return to OpenAI if the remaining board members who fired him step aside, multiple sources tell The Verge.

WAT? It’s tech soap-opera, that could have been written by Hollywood WGA members.

Meanwhile, Matt Levine at Bloomberg tries to explain Who Controls OpenAI?:

“Microsoft was shocked Friday when it received just a few minutes notice” of the firing, despite having invested some $13 billion in OpenAI.

[…]

So: Is control of OpenAI indicated by the word “controls,” or by the word “MONEY”? […] “You can make the case that Microsoft just acquired OpenAI for $0 and zero risk of an antitrust lawsuit,” writes Ben Thompson — the money kind of won.

The MONEY word is annotating the official orginasation charts to emphasis what “minority owner” means.

An insightful read. The rest of the column is a different topic.