Tech giant Microsoft is reportedly floating job invitations to OpenAI researchers considering quitting the company after it sacked its former CEO Sam Altman last week.
Microsoft Offering Job Invites To OpenAI Researchers: Report
For those unaware, OpenAI’s board of directors controversially fired Altman as CEO last Friday after they said it “no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.”
While Altman tried negotiating over the weekend to return as OpenAI CEO, the negotiations fell apart with the board appointing Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear as the company’s interim CEO.
However, on Monday, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella announced that Altman and former president Greg Brockman and their colleagues will join the company to lead a new advanced AI (artificial intelligence) research team. Nadella also indirectly hinted at Altman’s new role within Microsoft.
Following the sacking of Altman, more than 500 employees of OpenAI threatened to quit the company unless he and co-founder Greg Brockman were reinstated and all current board members resigned, reported Reuters, citing a signed letter by the employees to OpenAI’s board.
They also added that they would like to join the newly announced Microsoft subsidiary run by Sam Altman and Greg Brockman. The letter also claimed that the Redmond giant has offered jobs to all OpenAI employees at the new subsidiary should they choose to join.
Breaking: 505 of 700 employees @OpenAI tell the board to resign. pic.twitter.com/M4D0RX3Q7a
— Kara Swisher (@karaswisher) November 20, 2023
“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,” the signed letter reads.
The letter included signatures of Mira Murati, OpenAI’s Chief Technology Officer (CTO), Ilya Sutskever, Chief Data Scientist, and Brad Lightcap, Chief Operating Officer (COO), a person familiar with the matter told the news publication.
Kevin Scott, Chief Technology Officer (CTO) and EVP of AI, has now confirmed in a post on X that the company has seen their petition and that “if needed,” they will be hired by Microsoft in a role that “matches your compensation.”
To my partners at OpenAI: We have seen your petition and appreciate your desire potentially to join Sam Altman at Microsoft’s new AI Research Lab. Know that if needed, you have a role at Microsoft that matches your compensation and advances our collective mission.
— Kevin Scott (@kevin_scott) November 21, 2023
OpenAI has yet to respond to the Reuters report. Keep watching this space, as this is a developing story!