“Sam Altman Won the War for OpenAI. Now Comes Winning the Peace: The Company’s CEO Is Back With Near-Unanimous Employee Support—And With Thorny Governance Issues to Address”, Shirin Ghaffary2023-11-30 (; backlinks)⁠:

…Within 4 days of losing his job as chief executive officer of OpenAI in a surprise boardroom coup, the 38-year-old artificial intelligence phenom Sam Altman won back his position, aided by the support of 730 employees—out of the company’s 770-person workforce—who threatened to quit if the board didn’t bring back Altman. Anyone who’s ever had a job knows that such overwhelming support for the boss is unusual. “It’s a huge testament to the kind of CEO he is”, says Alfred Lin, an investor at Sequoia Capital, a company that invested both in OpenAI and Altman’s first startup, Loopt. “There are always going to be detractors. But the fact that he got to around 95% of employees signing the statement is pretty remarkable.”

…Nothing like that has come out, though there have been revelations of tensions within OpenAI over his fundraising for an outside chip venture [Tigris, cf. Rain AI & Cerebras], including seeking funding in the Middle East, and a dispute with then-board member Helen Toner over a research paper she had co-written that was critical of the company. It was Altman’s pattern of behavior, rather than a single egregious action, that caused the board to lose trust in him, according to a person with direct knowledge of the board’s thinking, who asked not to be named discussing private business matters.

…Altman’s longtime mentor, Paul Graham, fired Altman from his position as president of startup incubator Y Combinator 4 years ago for putting his own interests ahead of the organization, according to a person with knowledge of the matter who asked not to be named for fear of professional retaliation, confirming an earlier report in the Washington Post.

…People who know and support Altman say he often argues both sides of a debate, which they see as a useful way of exploring ideas but which they acknowledge could be misinterpreted as making false promises or confusing people. “Sam uses words fairly precisely in my experience. If he tells you what he plans to do, that’s what he plans to do. If he tells you he agrees with you in principle, he does. These are different things from each other. Not everyone groks this”, wrote OpenAI researcher Joshua Achiam, on Twitter.

…Many employees take this mandate seriously. “We have a common mission to basically ‘Build God’, safely, and for the benefit of all humanity—and have a charismatic leader guiding us there”, says an OpenAI employee, who requested anonymity to protect professional relationships. “It’s really hard to not get wrapped up in that.”

…This is particularly notable given the reputation Altman built in his years at Y Combinator as a savvy dealmaker and Silicon Valley superconnector. In the AI frenzy that followed ChatGPT’s introduction in November 2022, Altman has turned his charm on world leaders, regulators and the press. Businesspeople often advocate for their industries on the public stage. But Altman has cultivated an image as someone who not only articulates the benefits of AI development but is also clear-eyed about its potential dangers. The OpenAI flap has added a wrinkle to that story, but he retains a sizable fan base in Silicon Valley. “Altman has been embodying a kind of idealism for a lot of people”, O’Mara says, “even though he’s always been a capitalist.”