T continues,” tweeted Sam Altman, the co-founder of Open , the startup behind Chat , on November 19th. But precisely where it will continue remains unclear. Mr Altman’s tweet was part of announcement that he was joining Microsoft. Two days earlier, to the astonishment of Silicon Valley, he had been fired from Open for not being “consistently candid in his communications with the board”. Then Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s boss, announced that Mr Altman would “lead a new advanced [artificial intelligence] research team” within the tech giant. At first it looked...

Last week, we interviewed Sam Altman. Since then, well, everything has changed. The board of OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT, fired Altman as chief executive on Friday. Over the weekend, it looked as if he might return. On Sunday night, Microsoft hired Altman to lead a new A.I. venture. Who knows what will happen next.

Today, an update on a crazy weekend in tech, and our interview with Sam Altman.

How come just four board members could act to remove the company's chief executive? Why did some board members have so little board-level experience? And why didn't Microsoft, by far the biggest investor in OpenAI, have a board seat? When OpenAI first started out, it was resolutely non-profit. Its press release made it crystal clear: "Our aim is to build value for everyone rather than shareholders," it said. The goal was "to advance digital intelligence in the way that is most likely to benefit humanity as a whole, unconstrained by...

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella told CNBC's Jon Fortt on Monday that the oversight of OpenAI needs to change. The comments come after days of drama kicked off by the OpenAI board dismissing co-founder Sam Altman as CEO. "At this point, I think it's very clear that something has to change around the governance," Nadella said. Early Monday morning Nadella said Altman, his fellow OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and their colleagues would join Microsoft as part of a new artificial intelligence research group. This is breaking news. Please check back for...

OpenAI’s investors are still trying to return co-founder Sam Altman to a leadership role at the ChatGPT maker, and Microsoft Corp. has signaled that it wouldn’t oppose such an outcome. Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures and Tiger Global Management are looking to secure their investment after the OpenAI board forced out Altman on Friday, according to people familiar with the matter. Altman is eager to return, said the people, who requested anonymity to discuss confidential negotiations. On Sunday, Microsoft Corp., OpenAI’s biggest investor by far, said it was hiring Altman, former...

OpenAI has gone from ruling the world of artificial intelligence with ChatGPT to chaos, its chief executive ousted seemingly for advancing too fast and too far with the risky technology. The exit of Sam Altman set in motion a series of events that saw the upstart company's biggest investor, Microsoft, swoop in to hire the toppled CEO and begin a process of building an OpenAI clone in the Redmond, Washington-based tech giant. In some ways the looming result to the weekend saga is hardly a surprise, with many wondering how...

Microsoft said it is hiring Sam Altman to helm a new advanced artificial-intelligence research team, after his bid to return to OpenAI fell apart Sunday. Altman, left, appears onstage with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at OpenAI’s first developer conference, on Nov. 6 in San Francisco. Some chief information officers are questioning the viability of ChatGPT maker OpenAI following the unexpected ouster of chief executive Sam Altman on Friday, his subsequent hire by Microsoft and an unresolved threat by hundreds of OpenAI workers to quit and follow him there. “Long-term viability...

The ascension of an insider CEO can be a bit underwhelming. When Satya Nadella took the helm of Microsoft in 2014, some employees and investors were disappointed. The search committee had spent months sifting through more than 100 potential leaders, looking for someone who could revive the spirit of innovation that had once defined the company. Along the way, some Wall Street analysts interpreted the fact that no clear external candidate was emerging to indicate that “Microsoft couldn’t attract an appealing CEO after years of dwindling relevance,” the Wall Street...

The future of OpenAI is in jeopardy after more than 700 of its 770 employees signed a letter yesterday saying they may leave the company for Microsoft if the ousted chief executive, Sam Altman, is not reinstalled at the high-profile artificial intelligence start-up. OpenAI’s four-person board shocked the tech industry Friday afternoon when it removed Altman, saying it could no longer trust him. The decision by the board set off a frantic weekend that ended with Altman joining Microsoft to start a new A.I. project with Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president...