Sam Altman to return as CEO of OpenAI after campaign by staff and investors
22 November 2023, 07:54
Sam Altman will return to OpenAI as chief executive after an agreement in principle was reached for his reinstatement, the company has announced.
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Posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, OpenAI also announced a "new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D'Angelo".
Mr Altman also posted, saying "i love openai, and everything i've done over the past few days has been in service of keeping this team and its mission together."
Last week the board of OpenAI, which created the ChatGPT artificial intelligence tool, said it had pushed Mr Altman out after a review found he was "not consistently candid in his communications" with the board.
The president and co-founder of the company said on X: "Amazing progress made today. We will come back stronger and more unified than ever."
About 500 employees had signed a letter demanding the board resigned and reinstated Mr Altman.
He was sacked on Friday in a surprise move - but nearly all of OpenAI’s workforce threatened to quit unless the board brought him back and then quit immediately.
“We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo. We are collaborating to figure out the details. Thank you so much for your patience through this,” wrote OpenAI on its official account on
Altman posted: “I love OpenAI, and everything I’ve done over the past few days has been in service of keeping this team and its mission together.” He added: “I’m looking forward to returning to OpenAI.”
OpenAI confirmed on Monday that ‘intense discussions’ were under way to bring him back.
He was sacked last week over a failure to be “candid in his communications” but declined to give further details over what communications it was referring to.
