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Sam Altman gets sacked
After Sam Altman was abruptly sacked from Open AI, Microsoft made a strategic move by hiring the former CEO. This decision follows Altman’s departure from Open AI due to a loss of confidence in big leadership by the board.
New opportunities
After unsuccessful negotiations to bring Sam Altman back to OpenAI, Microsoft CEO, Stay Nadella announced his addition to the company. Nadella expressed excitement about Altman joining Microsoft, emphasizing the commitment to provide them with the necessary resources for success. Altman, acknowledging the move on social media, echoed the sentiment, stating, “The mission continues.” Nadella hinted at allowing Altman to build an independent identity within Microsoft, citing previous successful examples like GitHub and LinkedIn.
We remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and have confidence in our product roadmap, our ability to continue to innovate with everything we announced at Microsoft Ignite, and in continuing to support our customers and partners. We look forward to getting to know Emmett…
— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) November 20, 2023
This development unfolded after Altman’s unsuccessful attempt to return as OpenAI CEO, leading to the appointment of Emmett Shear as interim CEO. Sam Altman was reportedly exploring separate start-up projects focused on developing AI Tensor Processing Unit (TPU) chips, attracting interest from investors, including Microsoft.
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,…
— Satya Nadella (@satyanadella) November 20, 2023
Microsoft’s shifting AI landscape
In response to the evolving AI landscape, Microsoft has formed a new advanced AI research team, entrusting Altman with leadership roles. This initiative aligns with Microsoft’s recent strides in developing custom AI chips, including a language model training chip and an Arm-based CPU for cloud workloads, reducing dependence on Nvidia.
Despite the shifts, Microsoft maintains a substantial investment in OpenAI and continues to be the exclusive cloud partner for the organization. Nadella expressed confidence in the existing partnership and the ability to innovate, highlighting Microsoft’s multibillion-dollar investment in OpenAI.
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