Sam Altman joins Microsoft to lead new “advanced AI research team”
Sam Altman and fellow co-founder Greg Brockman will join the tech giant
Sam Altman is set to join Microsoft to lead a new AI research team following his abrupt departure from OpenAI, CEO Satya Nadella has announced.
In a statement online, Nadella revealed Altman and OpenAI’s former president, Greg Brockman, will join the firm to lead what he described as an “advanced AI research team”.
Microsoft is yet to provide additional details on the move. However, Nadella said Altman will set a "new pace for innovation" at the firm.
“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,” he said.
“We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success.”
We remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and have confidence in our product roadmap, our ability to continue to innovate with everything we announced at Microsoft Ignite, and in continuing to support our customers and partners. We look forward to getting to know Emmett…November 20, 2023
The announcement from Nadella follows several days of disruption at OpenAI which saw Altman ousted as chief executive in a boardroom coup.
In a statement on Friday 17 November, OpenAI announced the decision to oust Altman amidst claims that the exec “was not consistently candid with his communications with the board”.
“Mr Altman’s departure follows a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities,” the company said in a statement.
RELATED RESOURCE
Harness the power of AI while enhancing and governing it with well-proven and trusted human business expertise.
Altman’s shock removal at OpenAI led Brockman, who co-founded the firm, to resign alongside several senior colleagues.
The tech giant initially revealed that chief technology officer Mira Murati would assume the role of chief executive on an interim basis. It has since named former Twitch head Emmett Shear as its new CEO.
Rampant speculation over the reasoning behind Altman’s removal circulated online in the hours following the announcement. OpenAI did not elaborate on the motivations for his removal.
Reports over the weekend also suggested that Altman could return to the company, but talks are believed to have failed.
The Wall Street Journal reported that Altman’s return would be dependent on the creation of a new board and governance structure. Altman was also said to have been considering launching a new company with OpenAI colleagues.
Microsoft, which has backed OpenAI to the tune of roughly $13 billion in funding, was reportedly “blindsided” by the move, with Bloomberg reporting that Nadella was “furious” over the ouster.
Nadella said the tech giant remains committed to its ongoing relationship with OpenAI despite the disruption.
“We remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and have confidence in our product roadmap, our ability to continue to innovate with everything we announced at Microsoft Ignite, and in continuing to support our customers and partners,” he said.
“We look forward to getting to know Emmett Shear and OAI's new leadership team and working with them.”
-
Amazon OpenSearch update targets performance boosts and lower costsNews Surging data volumes have prompted an overhaul of Amazon’s OpenSearch service
-
Cyber experts say they've identified the first case of ‘agentic ransomware’News While the JadePuffer ransomware has alarm bells ringing, it still needed a human in the loop
-
Copilot Cowork is now generally available: Everything you need to know, including pricing, usage limits, and new featuresNews A host of partner plugins are already available for Copilot Cowork, and more are coming
-
‘Chat is dead’: OpenAI plots ChatGPT ‘super app’ overhaul ahead of public listing – with agents and coding tools the new focusNews The company looks set to spruce up ChatGPT with a particular focus on agents to drive subscriptions
-
‘The jobs picture is likely to be very different than we thought’: Sam Altman pours cold water on AI 'jobs apocalypse' claims – but that doesn’t mean there won’t be some workforce disruptionNews OpenAI CEO Sam Altman “thought there would have been more impact” on white collar and entry-level jobs at this point
-
How Welsh councils are improving services with Microsoft CopilotCase study AI use has reduced staff toil, improved customer service, and increased team collaboration at three Welsh councils
-
‘LLMs are unreliable delegates’: Microsoft researchers say you probably shouldn’t trust AI with work documentsNews A research paper from Microsoft shows AI degrades documents over longer workflows
-
Microsoft joins competitors in handing over AI models for advanced testingNews US and UK government agencies will evaluate the firm's frontier models, along with those from Google and xAI
-
The AI operations gap is reshaping the Microsoft channelHow are AI advancements shaping the moves channel partners are making and need to make going forward?
-
Accenture has been trialling Microsoft Copilot since 2023 – now it’s rolling out the AI tool to all 743,000 staffNews Accenture will roll out Microsoft Copilot to nearly three quarters of a million employees after years of testing
