Technology: Ex-OpenAI chief Sam Altman to join company’s investor Microsoft

Virendra Pandit

New Delhi: The sudden exit of Sam Altman from ChatGPT maker firm OpenAI, which took the technosphere by storm last weekend, may have a happy ending: he, along with his colleagues, is set to join the company’s partner, Microsoft.

Reacting to his departure from OpenAI, Shaadi.com Chief Executive Officer (CEO) and Shark Tank India judge Anupam Mittal had also invited Altman to set up foundational artificial intelligence (AI) models for the South Asian country.

But Microsoft prevailed. The Bill Gates-founded company has reportedly invested USD 13 billion in OpenAI and owns a 49 percent stake in it. Also, Microsoft is integrating AI “Co-pilot” technology into its office productivity and cybersecurity software.

The media reported on Monday, quoting Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, that Altman, along with Greg Brockman and other former OpenAI employees, will be joining Microsoft.

“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,” Nadella posted on X (formerly Twitter).

“We look forward to getting to know Emmett Shear and OAI’s new leadership team and working with them. 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,” the Microsoft CEO wrote.

On Saturday, OpenAI 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,” it said.

Altman also talked about 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. But 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,” he wrote on X.

Following wide-ranging disagreements on AI safety, ChatGPT maker OpenAI ousted Sam Altman from his role as the company’s chief executive, sending shock waves across the tech industry.

India was quick to offer Altman a job.

“Come build foundational AI models for India… the world needs more AI platforms outside of big tech, and god knows it’s our time now,” Mittal wrote in a post.

Earlier this year, Altman claimed that India’s attempt to try and develop an AI tool similar to ChatGPT was “hopeless.”

He made this remark to a query from Rajan Anandan, former Google India head and currently a venture capitalist, during his visit to India in June. “The way this works is we’re going to tell you, it’s hopeless to compete with us on training foundation models you shouldn’t try, and it’s your job to like to try anyway. And I believe both of those things. I think it is pretty hopeless,” Altman said.

Tech Mahindra CEO CP Gurnani accepted the challenge. “OpenAI founder Sam Altman said it’s pretty hopeless for Indian companies to try and compete with them. Dear @sama, From one CEO to another. CHALLENGE ACCEPTED.”

Not that OpenAI itself was not shocked. It also tried to persuade Altman to stay.

On Sunday, The Information reported that Sam Altman will not return as CEO of OpenAI despite efforts from the company’s executives to bring him back.

According to the report, Emmett Shear, co-founder of video streaming site Twitch, will take over as interim CEO.

Bloomberg reported that Altman was trying to raise tens of billions of dollars from Middle Eastern sovereign wealth funds to create an AI chip startup to compete with processors made by Nvidia Corp. He was also courting SoftBank Group Corp. chairman Masayoshi Son for a multibillion-dollar investment in a new company to make AI-oriented hardware.

OpenAI board members were reportedly irked by Altman raising funds off of OpenAI’s name and these new companies not sharing the same governance model as OpenAI,

According to Bloomberg, OpenAI’s investors and Altman’s supporters have pressured the board members of the startup to bring Altman back since then.

Microsoft, which has invested USD 13 billion in OpenAI, was already leading the pressure campaign and finally hired Altman and his team.