OpenAI ex-CEO Sam Altman to join Microsoft, lead advanced AI research team: Nadella

Sam Altman, the former chief of artificial intelligence start-up OpenAI, will join Microsoft to "lead" a new advanced AI research team, the tech giant's CEO Satya Nadella announced on Monday.

In a blog post, Microsoft's Indian-origin chief said the company remains committed to its partnership with OpenAI and has confidence in its product roadmap, and "our ability to continue to innovate with everything we announced at Microsoft Ignite, and in continuing to support our customers and partners".

"We're extremely excited to share the news that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman (OpenAI co-founder and former president), together with colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team. We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success," Nadella said.

Nadella also shared Microsoft's announcement about Altman and Brockman joining the tech giant team in a post on X, to which the former OpenAI CEO responded, "The mission continues."

Replying to Altman's post, Nadella said, "I'm super excited to have you join as CEO of this new group, Sam, setting a new pace for innovation. We've learned a lot over the years about how to give founders and innovators space to build independent identities and cultures within Microsoft, including GitHub, Mojang Studios, and LinkedIn, and I'm looking forward to having you do the same."

Last week, the board of directors of OpenAI announced that Altman, 38, would depart as CEO and leave the board, which "no longer has confidence" in his "ability to continue leading OpenAI".

Brockman had also quit the start-up and had said Altman and he were "shocked and saddened" by what the board did.

A statement by OpenAI said Altman's departure follows a "deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities".

OpenAI had said as part of this transition, Brockman would be stepping down as chairman of the board and will remain in his role at the company, reporting to the CEO.

In the blog post, Nadella said Microsoft looks forward to getting to know Emmett Shear, the former chief executive of Twitch who has been named interim chief at OpenAI, as well as OAI's new leadership team and working with them.

Nadella said Microsoft is continuing to rapidly innovate for this era of AI, with over 100 announcements across the full tech stack from AI systems, models, and tools in Azure, to Copilot.

"Most importantly, we're committed to delivering all of this to our customers while building for the future. We have a long-term agreement with OpenAI with full access to everything we need to deliver on our innovation agenda and an exciting product roadmap; and remain committed to our partnership, and to Mira and the team. Together, we will continue to deliver the meaningful benefits of this technology to the world," he said.