Microsoft Azure: Sam Altman returns as OpenAI’s CEO, with new board

Sam Altman, who was suddenly fired by the board has “reached an agreement in principle” to return as CEO of OpenAI as nearly all of OpenAI’s employees threatened to leave the company if the board did not reverse its decision. 

Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear, who was appointed as interim CEO aid that he would launch an independent investigation into the board's actions, adding that he didn't know why Altman was fired. The investigation will now continue with Altman's return; it will also look into the alleged behavior that led to the firing.

The departed OpenAI staffers who left to join Microsoft will now come back with Altman, along with a new board with Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo remaining as the only member of the old board. The new board will now be joined by Bret Taylor, former Salesforce CEO, Google Maps-co-creator, and former Facebook CTO; and Larry Summers, former Secretary of the US Treasury.

Altman posted on X, "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. When I decided to join Microsoft on Sun[day] evening, it was clear that was the best path for me and the team. With the new board and w[ith] Satya [Nadella, Microsoft's CEO]’s support, I’m looking forward to returning to OpenAI, and building on our strong partnership with Microsoft ."