Microsoft is bringing former OpenAI leaders Sam Altman and Greg Brockman together to lead a new advanced AI research team. The move followed OpenAI’s decision to remove Altman as chief executive and a wave of departures and protests inside the startup.
A new team takes shape at Microsoft
Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella announced that Altman would lead the new group. Brockman said former OpenAI researchers Szymon Sidor, Jakub Pachocki and Aleksander Madry were also joining, with more colleagues expected to follow.
Nadella said Microsoft would provide the team with resources and room to develop its own identity and culture. He pointed to GitHub, Mojang Studios and LinkedIn as examples of organizations that have built independent identities within Microsoft.
The hiring came after three days of intense discussions following OpenAI’s board decision to dismiss Altman. Many employees, including Brockman, had left or protested the board’s action. Microsoft had also extended job offers to all OpenAI employees, according to a letter from staff calling for the board to resign.
Microsoft keeps its OpenAI partnership
Microsoft’s move to hire the two co-founders did not mean it was ending its relationship with OpenAI. Nadella said the company remained committed to the partnership and had confidence in OpenAI’s product roadmap, its ability to innovate and its support for customers and partners.
Microsoft had invested over $10 billion in OpenAI and acquired almost 50% ownership, according to the source article. OpenAI’s technology had also become central to Microsoft’s AI efforts, including its Copilot and enterprise strategy, while the partnership helped Microsoft attract businesses.
That connection made the leadership upheaval consequential for both companies. OpenAI’s software had drawn investment and helped establish the startup as a leading force in the AI race. For Microsoft, bringing Altman and Brockman onto a new team secured people closely associated with that work while it continued working with OpenAI’s new leadership.
OpenAI faces questions about leadership and trust
OpenAI’s board said it removed Altman because he had not been “consistently candid” in conversations with board members, but did not elaborate. The lack of explanation angered employees. Research scientist Andrej Karpathy wrote on X that the board had an opportunity to explain its actions and did not take it.
The board appointed former Twitch chief executive and co-founder Emmett Shear as interim chief executive. Shear acknowledged that the process and communication around Altman’s removal had been handled very badly and had seriously damaged trust.
Shear said he planned to hire an independent investigator for a full review, speak extensively with stakeholders and restructure OpenAI’s management and leadership team. He said he would consider significant governance changes if the findings made them necessary, while warning that addressing some concerns could take longer than a month.
What the transition could mean
The departures raised concerns about whether OpenAI could maintain its pace of progress without Altman’s leadership and whether more of its top talent might leave. CTO Mira Murati was among those who protested the board’s decision. Employees argued that the company depended on its people.
Analysts at Wedbush described the upheaval as an “earthquake” and said OpenAI’s technology was at the core of Microsoft’s Copilot and enterprise strategy. They also characterized the loss of Altman and Brockman as a near-term, and potentially long-term, blow to OpenAI’s future initiatives.
Altman’s move to Microsoft offered one path forward for the former leaders and colleagues joining him. Meanwhile, Microsoft said it intended to work with Shear and OpenAI’s new leadership. The two companies’ partnership therefore remained in place as each faced a different challenge: Microsoft was building a new research team, while OpenAI was reviewing the decisions and governance that had triggered the crisis.