Indus Valley Times

NEW DELHI, NOV 20 : Former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella have often showered praises on each other in press conferences and interviews. In March this year, during an interaction with Lex Fridman, Altman had called himself a ‘big fan’ of Nadella. More recently, during the first OpenAI developer conference held earlier this month, Altman and Nadella shared the stage and had talked about their partnership. “We Love you guys. You guys have built something magical,” Nadella was quoted saying at the event.

Thus, the camaraderie between the two tech experts is quite evident. And when Altman was abruptly fired by the OpenAI board recently, Nadella had his back. In a tweet, Nadella announced that Sam Altman, along with another OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and former OpenAI employees will be joining Microsoft to lead a new team, focusing on advanced AI. Nadella also said that Microsoft will continue working with OpenAI and are excited to know their new CEO, Emmet Shear.

Talking about Microsoft’s partnership with OpenAI, Nadella’s tweet reads that they (Microsoft) are still “committed to their partnership with OpenAI and have confidence in our product roadmap, their ability to continue to innovate with everything that was announced at Microsoft Ignite.”

Nadella added that they are looking forward to getting to know, and working with, OpenAI’s new interim CEO, Emmett Shear.

Along with Sam, OpenAI’s co-founder Greg Brockman, along with some other top researchers, had also announced their exit from the company as a protest of sorts.

Talking about Sam Altman, Greg Brockman, and other ex-Open AI employees joining Microsoft, Nadella wrote, “And we’re extremely excited to share the news that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, together with colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team. We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success.”

Altman reshared Nadella’s post on X and wrote “The mission continues.”

Responding to Altman’s tweet, Nadella wrote that he is “super excited” to have him as the CEO of the new team, setting a “new pace for innovation.” He added, “We’ve learned a lot over the years about how to give founders and innovators space to build independent identities and cultures within Microsoft, including GitHub, Mojang Studios, and LinkedIn, and I’m looking forward to having you do the same.”

Microsoft pressurised OpenAI board to reinstate Sam Altman

A Bloomberg report had recently said that OpenAI investors, including Microsoft, were pressurising the OpenAI board to reinstate Sam Altman as its CEO.

Sources also told the publication that Nadella had been talking to Altman constantly and promised him his support in whatever he chose to do next. Microsoft, which is OpenAI’s biggest investor, was kept in dark about Altman’s exit and the news came as a complete surprise to Nadella.

What happened at OpenAI?

OpenAI had announced Sam Altman’s departure in a blog post, saying that he had been inconsistent with his communications with the board. “The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI,” the blog post read. Mira Murati, the company’s chief technology officer, started serving as the company’s interim CEO in the wake of Altman’s ouster.

owever, Murati’s tenure as interim CEO didn’t last for long. She was soon succeeded by Shear. This happened after Murati reportedly tried to re-hire Altman and Brockman.

Meanwhile, Altman also reacted on his sudden exit in a post on X. He wrote that it was a “weird experience” and was like “reading his own eulogy”.

“I love you all. Today was a weird experience in many ways. Tut one unexpected one is that it has been sorta like reading your own eulogy while you’re still alive. The outpouring of love is awesome. One takeaway: go tell your friends how great you think they are,” his tweet read.

-The India Today