Nearly 500 OpenAI Employees Ready to Depart, Rally Behind Sam Altman Amid Board Resignation Demand

A state of open revolt unfolded at OpenAI on Monday, as nearly 500 employees endorsed an open letter, issuing a threat to depart unless the current board steps down and reinstates Sam Altman as CEO, along with cofounder and former president Greg Brockman. Altman's dismissal by the board on Friday sparked controversy.

"The process through which you terminated Sam Altman and removed Greg Brockman from the board has jeopardized all of this work and undermined our mission and company" the letter reads. "Your conduct has made it clear you did not have the competence to oversee OpenAI."

A significant portion of the staff expressed frustration regarding the inadequate communication surrounding Altman's dismissal. Last night, dozens of employees indicated their readiness to leave OpenAI and join Altman by posting "OpenAI is nothing without its people" on X.

In the letter, they said, "Microsoft has assured us that there are positions for all OpenAI employees at this new subsidiary should we choose to join," they write. The frustrated employees have said that company has failed to provide any written evidence over its allegations against the sacked CEO.

It is interesting to note that Ilya Sutskever, the company's chief scientist and a member of its board, accused of coordinating the boardroom coup against Altman, is also one of the signees. Before the letter was released, he tweeted, "I deeply regret my participation in the board's actions. I never intended to harm OpenAI. I love everything we've built together and I will do everything I can to reunite the company.

On Friday, Altman was fired by the OpenAI's board stating "he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities." OpenAI's chief technology officer Mira Murati was appointed as interim CEO.

After backlash from investors, including Microsoft, the board of OpenAI appeared receptive to the idea of having Altman come back to assume a leadership role in the company.

Altman shared a photo on Sunday, depicting himself wearing a visitors' badge at the company's headquarters. However, the board informed the staff last night that Altman would not be making a return to the company.

Later, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that Altman and Brockman would be joining the software company to lead an advanced AI research team.

"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 Shear and OAI's new leadership team and working with them. And 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," he said on X.

On the other hand, OpenAI's board removed Murati and appointed another interim CEO, Emmett Shear, the former CEO of the video game streaming site Twitch.

It has to be noted that OpenAI has around 770 total staff.