In recent developments at OpenAI, approximately two-thirds of the company's staff have threatened to quit unless all board members resign and former CEO Sam Altman is reappointed. The number of employees who have signed the letter has been steadily increasing and currently represents a significant majority of OpenAI's workforce. The letter, which was first reported by Wired and shared by tech journalist Kara Swisher, accuses the board of undermining the company and jeopardizing its mission. The signatories, including CTO Mira Murati and COO Brad Lightcap, state that they will leave OpenAI to join Altman at Microsoft if the board does not step down.
The letter also expresses regret from OpenAI's chief scientist Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike, the co-lead of the "superalignment" team, for their involvement in the decision to remove Altman. It calls for the resignation of Murati, who was initially named the interim CEO but later replaced. These actions follow a weekend of chaos and confusion at the AI startup, which culminated in Altman and former OpenAI president Greg Brockman joining Microsoft's new AI team.
OpenAI's board has faced significant backlash from employees over the handling of Altman's departure, with some staff members leaving to follow him to Microsoft. Public displays of support for Altman have also been seen on the platform X. The board cited Altman's lack of consistent candor and a loss of confidence in his ability to lead the company as reasons for his firing.