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In a surprising turn of events at OpenAI, early Monday morning it was reported that 500 out of 770 employees at OpenAI requested the remaining board members to resign. By Monday afternoon, the count had risen to 700, according to a tweet from reporter Ashlee Vance.
In a letter signed by twelve high-ranking employees, including co-founder Ilya Sutskever, the group threatened to quit if the board didn’t resign immediately. The letter had the backing of 505 of OpenAI’s 700 employees, as shared by reporter Kara Swisher in a tweet.
The letter stated that the group had tried to address the board’s concerns after the firing of CEO Sam Altman and attempted to stabilize the situation. However, the board failed to provide specific facts or written evidence for their allegations. This led the group to conclude that the board was negotiating in bad faith and was unfit for its duties.
Within two days of the decision, the board had replaced interim CEO Mira Murati, reportedly against the company’s best interests. The leadership team was informed that allowing the company to be destroyed would still align with the mission, which further fueled discontent.
The letter continued by criticizing the board’s lack of competence, judgment, and care for the mission and employees. Microsoft had promised positions for all OpenAI employees at a new subsidiary if they chose to join. This came as Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella announced the hiring of former CEO Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman for a new initiative at Microsoft. The twelve signatories said they would resign unless all current board members were replaced and Sam Altman and Greg Brockman were reinstated.
It was notable that co-founder Sutskever signed the letter, as he was initially reported to have led the process of firing Altman. However, his stance seemed to have changed after the weekend’s events. Before the letter was released, Sutskever tweeted his deep regret over his participation in the board’s actions.
As of early Monday, the potential for a mass defection from OpenAI remained a significant issue for Microsoft, whose stock rose by 1 percent in early morning trading. By early afternoon, the number of employees who signed the letter had increased to 700.