Sam Altman is reinstated as CEO of OpenAI just a week after being let go by the board.

• OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been reinstated after being abruptly dismissed on Friday.
• After his removal, hundreds of OpenAI staff, including co-founder and board member Ilya Sutskever, penned a letter urging the remaining board members to resign or they would depart.
• On Monday, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that members from OpenAI, including Altman, would be joining to form a new advanced AI research team.

Early Wednesday morning, OpenAI announced that Sam Altman will be reinstated as CEO. This decision comes after significant pressure from employees and investors on the board, who had removed him from his position just days prior.

Bret Taylor, former co-CEO, and Larry Summers, former Treasury Secretary, have joined OpenAI's board, with Taylor holding the chair position. Adam D'Angelo, co-founder and CEO of Quora, will remain on the board.

As Altman returned, Helen Toner, Tasha McCauley, and co-founder Ilya Sutskever were removed from the board. Although all had been involved in ousting Altman, Sutskever later reversed his stance and remains an employee of OpenAI as of Wednesday.

"We are working together to determine the specifics. Thank you for your understanding during this time," OpenAI stated in a message on X, previously known as Twitter, posted Wednesday at 1 a.m. ET.

On Monday, hundreds of employees, including Sutskever, signed a letter stating that if the board did not resign and invite Altman back, the majority of employees would leave to work with him at Microsoft.

Microsoft's CEO, Satya Nadella, announced on Monday that OpenAI co-founders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman would join Microsoft to establish a new AI lab. However, preparations for the lab had already begun before the official announcement from OpenAI came on Wednesday.

After an announcement on Sunday that OpenAI had appointed ex-Twitch CEO Emmett Shear as Altman's interim replacement, the board initially stated that OpenAI technology chief Mira Murati would take on the role. However, she later joined the chorus of employees advocating for Altman's return.

"I am excited to return to OpenAI with the new board and Satya's support, and continue our successful partnership with Microsoft," Altman wrote in a post on X.

Nadella applauded changes OpenAI made to its board in an X post.

Nadella wrote that this is the first crucial step towards more stable, well-informed, and effective governance. He stated that Sam, Greg, and he have discussed and agreed that they have a vital role to play alongside the OAI leadership team in ensuring OAI continues to flourish and achieve its mission. Nadella expressed excitement about strengthening their partnership and delivering the benefits of the next generation of AI to their customers and partners.

On Saturday, there was a possibility of reinstating Altman as the CEO of the company, as reports emerged that a group of prominent investors, including Microsoft, Tiger Global, Thrive Capital, and Sequoia Capital, were working to reverse the board's decision from the previous day. However, none of these investors had board seats, and they were caught off guard by the decision.

Thrive stated on Wednesday that OpenAI has the potential to be one of the most consequential companies in the history of computing. Sam and Greg possess a profound commitment to the company's integrity and an unmatched ability to inspire and lead. We are excited for them to rejoin the company they founded and helped build into what it is today.

On Saturday night, Altman expressed his love for the OpenAI team in a post on X. Brockman, who left the company after being removed as chairman and the ouster of Altman, reposted the comment with a heart symbol. Other OpenAI employees also did the same.

OpenAI, which was reportedly in talks to sell employee shares to investors at an $86 billion valuation, became the hottest startup globally after releasing its ChatGPT chatbot in late 2022. The chatbot enables users to input simple text queries and receive intelligent and imaginative answers that can lead to more in-depth discussions.

Since 2019, Altman has been both the CEO of a successful company and the public face of AI research and product development.

Unlike most Silicon Valley startups, OpenAI was not structured as a typical corporation with significant equity controlled by the founders. Instead, it was part of a nonprofit founded in 2015. The board oversees the nonprofit, which serves as the overall governing body for all OpenAI activities, as stated in Friday's blog post.

Sutskever and Brockman were both part of OpenAI's founding team. The original investors included Altman, LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman, and CEO Elon Musk, who reportedly committed $1 billion to the project.

Brockman wrote in an early Wednesday X post, "I'll be returning to OpenAI and resuming my coding tonight."

Following the dismissal of Altman by OpenAI's board, several prominent investors and entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley expressed their dissatisfaction and compared the move to the 1997 decision to fire Steve Jobs. Despite this setback, Jobs would eventually return and lead Apple to create the iPhone, becoming the most valuable company in the U.S.

According to longtime startup investor Ron Conway, the recent events at OpenAI constitute a board coup that has not occurred since 1985 when Apple's board removed Steve Jobs. Conway expressed his shock and disapproval of the situation, stating that it was both irresponsible and unjust to Sam & Greg and the other builders at OpenAI.

Eric Schmidt, former CEO, referred to Altman as a "hero of mine" who founded a company that "changed our collective world forever." Brian Chesky, current CEO, described Altman as "one of the best founders of his generation." Vinod Khosla, venture capitalist, stated that Altman is a "once in a generation CEO."

Earlier this month, Nadella, who made an unexpected appearance at OpenAI’s developer conference, was reportedly surprised and upset by the announcement. Despite his company having invested billions of dollars in OpenAI and being a close technology partner, hosting hefty GPT workloads on its Azure cloud infrastructure.

I'm glad to have been a part of the solution," Shear stated in an early Wednesday X post, "as this was the pathway that ensured safety while doing what was right for all stakeholders involved.

Sam Altman's departure as CEO of OpenAI was discussed by Matt McIlwain of Madrona.