What’s next for OpenAI with Altman back in charge

OpenAI reinstated Sam Altman as its CEO late Tuesday, concluding both his Steve Jobs moment and a tumultuous few days for the ChatGPT-maker.

The backstory: Five days prior, OpenAI’s board had abruptly fired Altman without communicating its decision to anyone beforehand – not even Microsoft, which invested $13 billion into the startup. The board was vague in public about its reasons, citing a breakdown in communications and its need to defend OpenAI's mission to develop AI that benefits humanity.

• While it's unclear whether/how much this played a role in Altman’s removal, several OpenAI researchers reportedly wrote a letter to the board ahead of Altman’s firing that alerted them to an internal project called Q*, a powerful AI discovery the researchers said could threaten humanity.

🤔 What’s next?... OpenAI – which prior to rehiring Altman was potentially looking at ~95% of its workforce leaving – will retain all of its employees. But while the rank-and-file operation of the company remains the same, its governance is getting what’s done to a messy Etch-a-Sketch – a shakeup.

Nearly all of the company’s original board members have been replaced, with only Adam D'Angelo, the CEO of Quora, remaining. The other two board slots have been taken by Bret Taylor, the former co-CEO of Salesforce, and Larry Summers, an American economist who served as Secretary of the Treasury from 1999 to 2001 – and multiple reports indicate the board will be expanded (potentially to nine members), with the additional seats including both Microsoft and Altman (pending the results of an internal investigation into his firing).