More Than 700 OpenAI Employees Threaten To Quit—And Join Microsoft—Unless Board Resigns

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Virtually all employees of OpenAI, a ChatGPT developer, have signed a letter demanding a change in the composition of the board of directors, which decided to fire the company's co-founder Sam Altman as CEO.

More Than 700 OpenAI Employees Threaten To Quit—And Join Microsoft—Unless Board Resigns
According to Bloomberg, more than 700 of the 770 OpenAI employees who signed the letter threatened to quit and move to Microsoft, the company's main investor, unless the board resigns and Altman is reinstated.

The letter says they "are unable to work for or with people that lack competence, judgement and care for our mission and employees”.

“Microsoft has assured us that there are positions for all OpenAI employees,” the letter added.

It was initially reported that more than 500 employees signed the letter, but Bloomberg later clarified that more than 700 people supported the petition.

Among those who signed the letter is Ilya Sutskever, co-founder and board member of OpenAI, who was involved in the firing of Sam Altman. On 20 November, Sutskever said he "deeply regrets" that he participated in the actions of the board of directors.

"I never intended to harm OpenAI. I love everything we’ve built together and I will do everything I can to reunite the company," Sutskever said.

OpenAI's board of directors announced Altman's dismissal on 17 November, stating that he "was not consistently candid in his communications with the board." Along with Altman, OpenAI President Greg Brockman and several top developers left the company. The decision was condemned by investors and employees, after which the board began talks with Altman about his return.

After leaving OpenAI, Sam Altman took a job at Microsoft, where he leads a new cutting-edge research group in artificial intelligence.

After Altman's dismissal, Mira Murati, chief technology officer, took over as head of OpenAI, with plans to bring Altman and Brockman back to the company. On 20 November, media reported that OpenAI's board of directors hired former Twitch executive Emmett Shear as interim CEO.

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