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Just days after the turmoil surrounding his dismissal and subsequent reinstatement as CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman spent a few hours on Thanksgiving with his longtime friend and OpenAI board member, Adam D’Angelo. Altman shared on Twitter that he had a pleasant time with D’Angelo and extended Thanksgiving wishes from their families to everyone.
The tweet caught many in the tech community by surprise, as they speculated about how the two could reconcile after the recent public fallout. Altman was ousted from his position at OpenAI, the prominent AI research lab, following accusations from the board that he had been dishonest and obstructive. However, he was brought back as CEO just five days later.
D’Angelo was one of the board members who had expressed concerns about Altman’s vision and direction for OpenAI, particularly after the launch of ChatGPT, a widely popular chatbot that has raised several ethical and safety questions.
In the early days of Silicon Valley, Altman and D’Angelo crossed paths—D’Angelo as ex-CTO of Facebook and Altman as the founder of Loopt, a startup nearly acquired by Facebook. Both eventually took on significant roles at OpenAI—Altman as CEO and D’Angelo as a board member. However, their relationship reportedly soured in recent years due to disagreements over the management and direction of OpenAI, which was initially established as a nonprofit aimed at ensuring AI aligns with human values for the benefit of all.
Their Thanksgiving gathering indicates that Altman and D’Angelo are trying to publicly move past the recent boardroom drama. With Altman back as CEO, they will be working together to shape the future of OpenAI as it continues to exert significant influence in the AI industry.
This holiday meetup appears to be an effort to leave behind the chaos of OpenAI’s leadership saga, as Altman and D’Angelo now collaborate to guide the company forward.