Sam Altman reinstated as OpenAI board member as investigation into his removal ends

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman will rejoin the company's board of directors, the company announced late Friday following an internal review of the circumstances surrounding his abrupt removal in November 2023. The internal review also prompted an expansion of the company's governance structure and policies.

Altman’s abrupt removal sparked a week of drama at the technology company. He was almost reinstated as CEO before joining OpenAI investor Microsoft, but the new board did not include him.

"We unanimously believe that Sam and (co-founder) Greg are the right leaders for OpenAI," Bret Taylor, chairman of the board, said in the announcement.

OpenAI said it had conducted an internal review, conducted by law firm WilmerHale, which conducted interviews with dozens of individuals and evaluated more than 30,000 documents. The company claimed the review uncovered a "breakdown of trust" between the previous board and Altman. Although the board acted within its discretion, the report concluded that Altman's conduct was "not sufficient to warrant removal."

WilmerHale noted in its report: "The previous board believed at the time that their initiatives would help resolve internal management challenges, and they did not anticipate the disruption these initiatives would cause to the company's stability." "Previous The Board of Directors’ decisions were not based on concerns about product safety, development speed, OpenAI’s financial health, or the statements they made to investors, customers or business partners."

There are rumors that Altman was removed from his position because the company's artificial intelligence research made a potentially dangerous discovery.

At the same time, OpenAI announced the election of three new board members: Sue Desmond-Hellmann, CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Nicole Seligman, former executive vice president and global general counsel of Sony, and Fidji Simo, CEO and Chairman of Instacart. They will join current board members Adam D'Angelo, Larry Summers and Bret Taylor, as well as Altman, to form the new board.

The board of directors also made adjustments to OpenAI’s governance structure, including developing new corporate governance guidelines, strengthening conflict of interest policies, establishing a whistleblower hotline for employees and contractors, and establishing board committees focused on mission and strategy. These initiatives are designed to increase the company's transparency and accountability, ensure that the interests of all stakeholders are protected, and help OpenAI better achieve its mission and strategic goals.

News of Altman's rejoining the board comes just days after OpenAI co-founder Elon Musk filed a lawsuit against the company and its leaders, accusing them of breaching contractual agreements and abandoning plans to "benefit humanity." The mission of AI development has been changed to the goal of making profits.

According to reports, Musk said: "If there is no effective competition, and then continuing to conduct research in the public domain, it may actually worsen the situation and help them for free because they can easily copy and immediately become popular." Integrated applications at scale.”

As a leading artificial intelligence research organization, OpenAI faces increasing attention and scrutiny regarding its governance, transparency and alignment with its stated mission.

"We recognize our important role in managing transformative technologies," Taylor said.

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