Microsoft Becomes An Observer On The OpenAI Board After Sam Altman's CEO Return

Microsoft CEO Sam Altman, (photo: x @sama)

JAKARTA - Microsoft CEO Sam Altman announced that Microsoft will take the position of observer without voting rights on the OpenAI board. The observer's position allows Microsoft representatives to attend OpenAI board meetings and access classified information, but has no voting rights in decisions, including election or director election.

Previously, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, who recruited Altman after his dismissal from OpenAI, stated that governance at the ChatGPT maker needed to be changed. OpenAI recently announced a new board consisting of former co-CEO Salesforce, Bret Taylor, as chairman and Larry Summers, former US Treasury Secretary. Quora CEO Adam D'Angelo, who was part of the council that dismissed Altman, also remains a member on the new board.

Although Microsoft is committed to investing more than 10 billion US dollars (Rp154 trillion) in OpenAI and owning 49% of the company's shares, they have not responded to requests for comment. Mira Murati, who previously served as OpenAI's Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and briefly became interim CEO after the dismissal of Altman, returned to CTO.

Altman, who was previously dismissed on November 17 for no apparent reason, returned four days later with the promise of a new council. Greg Brockman, co-founder who followed Altman out of the company, returns as president.

"Greg and I are partners in running this company. We haven't fully found a way to convey that in the organizational structure, but we will," said Altman.

OpenAI's Chief Scientist, Ilya Sutskever, is no longer part of the council. Sutskever initially participated in efforts to dismiss Altman but later signed an employee letter demanding Altman's return, expressing his regret for his "participation in the council's actions." Altman stated that the company was discussing ways for Sutskever to continue his work at OpenAI.

Apart from Altman, Brockman, Sutskever, D'Angelo, the previous OpenAI board consists of entrepreneur Musta McCauley, Helen Toner, director of strategy atTENue's Center for Security and Emerging Technology.