OpenAI Employees, Including Mira Murati, Threaten to Join Sam Altman Unless its Board Resigns

OpenAI saga seems to be far from over with new developments taking place with every passing hour. The latest buzz is that 505 out of 700 employees from OpenAI are threatening to resign from the company, and join Sam Altman’s new AI team in Microsoft unless the board resigns. In an open letter to the board, the OpenAI employees, including its new interim CEO Mira Murati, have stated that the process through which Sam Altman and Greg Brockamn were removed had displayed that they had no competence to oversee the operations of the company.

“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,” said the employees in the letter. They also stated that it would not be possible for them to work with “people that lack competence, judgement and care for the mission and employees.”

They also stated that unless the board resigns, they would chose to work with Sam Altman and Greg Brockman at Microsoft’s new venture. “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,” they said in the letter. The employees also protested the replacement of interim CEO Mira Murati by the board.

Earlier today, Satya Nadella, CEO, Microsoft announced Altman’s role in heading the new AI team, along with the inclusion of Greg Brockman. Altman had sent out a cryptic tweet last evening indicating this decision by OpenAI employees. “I Love the OpenAI Team so much,” he had said. Ilya Sutskever, one of the members of OpenAI, tweeted saying: “I deeply regret my participation in the board's actions. I never intended to harm OpenAI. I love everything we've built together and I will do everything I can to reunite the company.”

OpenAI employees have been reiterating that the company is “nothing” without its people, and also accused the board of working “against the best interests of the company and its people”. There is no official statement from the board of OpenAI so far on this latest development.