A breakdown of the OpenAI “boardroom coup” that ousted CEO Sam Altman

Fortune

OpenAI employees were in the middle of a tender offer that was set to end at the beginning of December, in which Thrive Capital and potential others had offered to purchase their shares at an $86 billion valuation.

Transcript

00:00 The OpenAI saga is far from over and a lot of people will lose a lot of money if it stops

00:04 here.

00:05 Here's a recap.

00:06 Sam Altman was fired from being the CEO of OpenAI on Friday.

00:09 The company's board gave only vague reasons as to why they fired Altman, saying he was

00:13 not consistently candid in his communications with the board.

00:16 In protest to Altman's dismissal, OpenAI president Greg Brockman and several other

00:20 employees quit.

00:21 Microsoft, which has invested $13 billion in OpenAI and infused its technology throughout

00:26 its products, appeared caught off guard by the news and was reportedly working to reinstate

00:30 Altman and Brockman.

00:31 But on Sunday, it was confirmed that Altman would not return and that the co-founder of

00:35 Twitch, Emmet Shear, would be the new interim CEO.

00:38 That's when Nadella decided to swoop in and hire Altman and Brockman, announcing on Monday

00:42 that the two would run an AI research group at Microsoft.

00:45 Ilyas Iskever, the OpenAI co-founder who helped oust Altman, now says he deeply regrets his

00:50 role in the saga and is threatening to quit unless the board resigns.

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