Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said on Monday that ousted OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman, and Greg Brockman will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team.
Nadella also appeared to confirm ex-Twitch boss Emmett Shear’s reported appointment as the new OpenAI CEO, saying they are “looking forward to getting to know Emmett Shear and OAI’s new leadership team and working with them.”
An earlier Reuters report said Altman will not return as the CEO of OpenAI and that Shear will become the new interim CEO, The Information reported on Sunday, citing board director Ilya Sutskever’s statement to the company’s staff.
Shear co-founded Twitch and had stepped down from the Amazon.com Inc.-owned live video streaming platform earlier this year.
OpenAI did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
Altman will not return to the company as CEO despite efforts from the company’s executives to bring him back, the report said, citing Sutskever. The report did not give any other details. Reuters could not immediately verify the statement cited by The Information.
Altman and former OpenAI President Brockman joined executives at the company’s San Francisco headquarters on Sunday after interim CEO Mira Murati told staff she invited Altman, The Information earlier reported on Sunday.
The earlier Reuters report on Sunday said Altman was discussing a possible return to the company behind the ChatGPT bot and improving the company’s governance structure, even as he considers launching a new artificial intelligence (AI) venture.
The board of the company on Friday fired Altman, who to many was the human face of generative AI, sending shock waves across the tech industry.
Altman posted on Sunday on messaging platform X an image of himself wearing an OpenAI guest badge with the caption: “first and last time i ever wear one of these.”
Altman’s sacking angered current and former employees and worried them over how an upcoming US$86 billion (S$115 billion) share sale could be affected by the sudden management upheaval.
OpenAI’s former president and co-founder, Brockman also arrived at the office on Sunday, The Information reported. Brockman had stepped down from the board as chairman as part of the management shuffle, and announced on Friday he quit the company.