On Monday, OpenAI faced internal upheaval as over 730 employees signed an open letter threatening to resign unless the board resigns and reinstates Sam Altman as CEO, along with cofounder Greg Brockman. Altman’s controversial firing on Friday prompted the revolt, with even Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever, accused of orchestrating the coup in the first place, among the signatories. By Monday evening, approximately 95 percent of OpenAI’s workforce had endorsed the letter.
Prior to the letter’s release, Sutskever expressed regret on X, stating, “I deeply regret my participation in the board’s actions” and pledged to reunite the company. The tumultuous weekend saw Altman’s removal, citing communication issues, and the appointment of Mira Murati as interim CEO, later replaced by Emmett Shear. Despite initial openness to Altman’s return, the board ultimately rejected it. Microsoft then announced Altman and Brockman would lead a new AI research unit, welcoming OpenAI employees to join.
The letter demands the current board’s resignation and proposes new independent lead board members, Bret Taylor and Will Hurd. The situation suggests OpenAI could lose a significant portion of its staff, potentially leading to Microsoft effectively acquiring the company. This episode underscores OpenAI’s unique governance structure and reveals the divisive nature of AI development, with concerns over Altman’s commercialization efforts clashing with the board’s focus on ensuring safe AI development.
The letter originally shared by Wired and journalist Kara Swisher reads as follows:
To the Board of Directors at OpenAI,
OpenAI is the world’s leading AI company. We, the employees of OpenAI, have developed the best models and pushed the field to new frontiers. Our work on AI safety and governance shapes global norms. The products we built are used by millions of people around the world. Until now, the company we work for and cherish has never been in a stronger position.
The process through which you terminated Sam Altman and removed Greg Brockman from the board has jeopardized all of this work and undermined our mission and company. Your conduct has made it clear you did not have the competence to oversee OpenAI.
When we all unexpectedly learned of your decision, the leadership team of OpenAI acted swiftly to stabilize the company. They carefully listened to your concerns and tried to cooperate with you on all grounds. Despite many requests for specific facts for your allegations, you have never provided any written evidence. They also increasingly realized you were not capable of carrying out your duties, and were negotiating in bad faith.
The leadership team suggested that the most stabilizing path forward – the one that would best serve our mission, company, stakeholders, employees and the public – would be for you to resign and put in place a qualified board that could lead the company forward in stability.
Leadership worked with you around the clock to find a mutually agreeable outcome. Yet within two days of your initial decision, you again replaced interim CEO Mira Murati against the best interests of the company. You also informed the leadership team that allowing the company to be destroyed “would be consistent with the mission.”
Your actions have made it obvious that you are incapable of overseeing OpenAI. We are unable to work for or with people that lack competence, judgement and care for our mission and employees. We, the undersigned, may choose to resign from OpenAI and join the newly announced Microsoft subsidiary run by Sam Altman and Greg Brockman. Microsoft has assured us that there are positions for all OpenAI employees at this new subsidiary should we choose to join. We will take this step imminently, unless all current board members resign, and the board appoints two new lead independent directors, such as Bret Taylor and Will Hurd, and reinstates Sam Altman and Greg Brockman.
