A day after OpenAI’s board of directors fired former CEO Sam Altman in a shock development, investors in the company are plotting how to restore him in what would amount to an even more surprising counter-coup.
Venture capital firms holding positions in OpenAI’s for-profit entity have discussed working with Microsoft and senior employees at the company to bring back Altman, even as he has signaled to some that he intends to launch a new startup, 4 sources told Forbes.
…The playbook, a source told Forbes would be straightforward: make OpenAI’s new management, under acting CEO Mira Murati and the remaining board, accept that their situation was untenable through a combination of mass revolt by senior researchers, withheld cloud computing credits from Microsoft, and a potential lawsuit from investors. [Threats extended 2 days later to include suing the board personally.] Facing such a combination, the thinking is that management would have to accept Altman back, likely leading to the subsequent departure of those believed to have pushed for Altman’s removal, including cofounder Ilya Sutskever and board director Adam D’Angelo, the CEO of Quora.
…A key player in any attempted reinstatement would be Microsoft, OpenAI’s key partner that has poured $10 billion into the company. CEO Satya Nadella was left surprised and “furious” by the ouster, Bloomberg reported. Microsoft has sent only a fraction of that stated dollar amount to OpenAI, per a Semafor report. A source close to Microsoft’ thinking said the company would prefer to see stability at a key partner…At least one firm, Sequoia Capital, was independently in contact with Microsoft to encourage it to work to restore Altman and Brockman, according to a source with knowledge of the matter. The firm would support Altman whichever option he chose, the source added.
…Earlier on Saturday, The Information reported that Altman was already meeting with investors to raise funds for such a project. One source close to Altman said that both options remained possible. “I think he truly wants the best outcome”, said the person. “He doesn’t want to see lives destroyed.”