More than500 employees of OpenAI called on the company’s board to resign in protest against Sam Altman’s sacking as CEO. They have signed a joint letter saying they may quit and join Altman at Microsoft unless the startup’s board resigns. They have also demanded the ousted CEO is reinstated.
The employees also accused the board of undermining Artificial intelligence startup firm’s work. Surprisingly, OpenAI’s chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever, who is a member of the board which fired Altman has also put his name to the letter.
In a post on X, Sutskever regretted his participation in the board’s actions and admitted that he made a mistake.
“Now 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”, he wrote.
The letter comes amid Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella’s announcement that Altman will join lead Microsoft’s new advanced AI research team.
Meanwhile OpenAI has appointed former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear as it’s new CEO. Earlier, Mira Murati, the Chief Technology Officer of OpenAI was made interim CEO of the company following Altman sacking.
The tech company’s board had on Friday sacked Altman over a Google Meet call. They later shared a detailed statement in a blog giving more insights about there decision.
The board said that it has lost confidence in Altman’s abilities to lead the AI startup. It also said that Altman has not been candid in his conversations with the board members lately.
Reacting to the OpenAI board’s decision, Altman and Greg Brockman, OpenAI president who also stepped down in solidarity with him, said that the decision came as a surprise for them as well.
Some of the OpenAI’s investors reportedly pushed the board to reinstate Altman but the board defied them and appointed Shear to lead the company.