OpenAI is facing a mutiny amongst its own staff, with more than 500 threatening to walk out and join former CEO Sam Altman at Microsoft.
OpenAI is facing a mutiny amongst its own staff, with more than 500 threatening to walk out and join former CEO Sam Altman at Microsoft.
In an extraordinary open letter posted by Wired journalist Kara Swisher and signed by 505 members of staff, the group claim that Friday’s firing of CEO Sam Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman has “undermined our mission and company”. Altman and Brockman were both hired by Microsoft to lead a new AI research department earlier today.
The group are demanding the resignation of the board of directors and threatening to walk out of the company if that doesn’t occur.
“We, the undersigned, may choose to resign from OpenAI and join the newly announced Microsoft subsidiary run by Sam Altman and Greg Brockman,” the letter states.
“Microsoft has assured us that there are positions for all OpenAI employees at this new subsidiary should we choose to join,” the letter adds.
Microsoft has been approached for comment.High-Profile Signatories
Signatories of the letter include Mira Murati, the chief technology officer who was briefly installed as the interim CEO over the weekend, before the position was handed to Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear.
