Sam Altman, ex-OpenAI boss, hired by Microsoft to lead an AI research team

TECHNOLOGY – The call from French Minister Jean-Noël Barrot was not enough. Sam Altman, now ex-boss of OpenAI, to whom we owe the generative artificial intelligence platform ChatGPT, has already found a new occupation after being let go by his company on Friday November 17.

Dismissed with immediate effect for not having always been “ franc », Sam Altman was closely followed by his co-founder and chairman of the board Greg Brockman, who submitted his resignation. But this Monday, November 20, Sam Altman and his friend have already turned around, as announced by the boss of the American giant Microsoft. In a tweet on X (formerly Twitter), Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said the two would soon join ” Microsoft to lead new advanced AI research team ».

The Silicon Valley AI star shared the announcement, promising that “ the mission continuese”, three days after his dismissal.

It must be said that the links between Microsoft and OpenAI are already close. Microsoft has invested several billion dollars in the start-up in recent months and has integrated this technology into its own products, such as the Bing search engine, while the first version of ChatGPT was only put online in November 2022. launching a great AI race. Following his tweet, the Microsoft boss assured that the company was continuing its partnership with OpenAI, despite the change in management.

And surprise this Monday afternoon, most of OpenAI’s senior executives, still in office, demanded the resignation of the entire board of directors, failing which they say they are ready to resign, according to a letter published Monday by several American media.

A Twitch co-founder to the rescue

On Sunday, Sam Altman took advantage of these last hours within OpenAI to joke about his situation. As co-founder of the company, he had fun joking about his new badge around the premises. “ First and last time I wear one “, he wrote, showing a photo of his badge “ guest ” (guest).

The OpenAI board of directors justified its decision on Friday by indicating that its dismissal followed “a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he had not always been candid in his communications with the board, hindering his ability to fulfill his responsibilities”. The OpenIA board of directors added that it no longer had “confidence in his ability to lead OpenAI”.

To replace him, the American start-up called on another well-known face from Silicon Valley, in the person of Emmett Shear. Appointed interim CEO, less than 48 hours after the dismissal of Sam Altman, this 40-year-old is one of the co-founders of the live video platform Twitch. Bought by Amazon in 2014 for the tidy sum of $970 million, Twitch was led by Emmett Shear until last March and the announcement of his resignation.

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