ChatGPT creator hires new chief as founder’s comeback fails

Chat-GPT maker OpenAI has hired a new chief executive in a bid to draw a line under the surprise sacking of founder Sam Altman.

The hiring of ex-Twitch boss Emmett Shear effectively ends speculation over whether Mr Altman, who three days ago was sacked in a row over the tech giant’s future, could return to OpenAI. 

It had been suggested on Sunday night that Mr Altman was considering a comeback.

Investors and employees had rallied behind Mr Altman – who co-founded OpenAI in 2015 – after his shock firing by the board on Friday night. 

Mr Altman was at the OpenAI offices for talks on Sunday, tweeting a picture of himself wearing a guest lanyard and office pass captioned: “First and last time I ever wear one of these.”

He was there at the invitation of interim chief executive Mira Murati and the rest of the leadership team, according to technology website The Information.

However, it has since emerged that Mr Altman will not return as chief executive and that Mr Shear will become the new interim boss. 

Mr Shear co-founded Twitch in 2011 but stepped down from the Amazon-owned live video streaming platform earlier this year.

Following his appointment, Mr Shear released a statement saying that the removal of Mr Atlman had been handled “very badly” and had “seriously damaged our trust”.

He said he now plans to “hire an independent investigator to dig into the entire process leading up to this point”.

Mr Shear also insisted Mr Altman had not left in a rift over the safety of the company’s technology.

He said: “The board did not remove Sam over any specific disagreement on safety, their reasoning was completely different from that.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Mr Altman, 38, helped turn OpenAI into one of the most valuable start-ups in the world and become one of Silicon Valley’s most high-profile figures.

His return would have capped a remarkable power struggle at the start-up, which is at the vanguard of the artificial intelligence movement and has been backed by billions of dollars from Microsoft.

Employees were told on Saturday night that OpenAI was “optimistic” about bringing Mr Altman back. Meanwhile, investors were already proposing new board members, including former Salesforce co-chief executive and Twitter chairman Bret Taylor, according to Bloomberg.

Microsoft, which has put $13bn (£10bn) into OpenAI, saw its shares drop on Friday night after Mr Altman’s sacking became public.

However, the tech giant’s shares are now expected to open more than 2pc higher on Wall Street on Monday after its chief executive Satya Nadella announced he had hired Mr Altman and his OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman to lead a new development team.

A string of OpenAI employees, including Ms Murati, publicly expressed their support for Mr Altman over the weekend, all posting heart emojis in response to Mr Altman’s tweets.

Dan Ives, an analyst at Wedbush Securities, said: “The growing consensus from Silicon Valley and Wall Street is that the days for this four-person board are numbered and Altman will be back at OpenAI and ultimately Microsoft [will be] in an even stronger position to control OpenAI’s strategic direction.”

OpenAI’s six-person board said on Friday night that it “no longer has confidence in [Mr Altman’s] ability to continue leading OpenAI”, as they sacked him over a video call.

The company said Mr Altman was “not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering his ability to exercise his responsibilities”.

The sacking has since been reported as the result of disagreements with chief scientist Ilya Sutskever over Mr Altman’s increasingly commercial plans for the company, in contrast with its not-for-profit ethos.

However, Mr Sutskever on Monday said he regretted taking part in the boardroom coup. 

He said: “I deeply regret my participation in the board’s actions. I never intended to harm OpenAI. I love everything we’ve built together and I will do everything I can to reunite the company.”

ChatGPT, which allows users to compose essays, look up information and write software code, has been an unexpected phenomenon since it was released less than a year ago. It has signed up more than 100m users while OpenAI is on the verge of securing an $86bn valuation as corporate customers queue up to use its systems.

The technology’s success has rekindled concerns about the potential risks of artificial intelligence, leading to government action such as this month’s AI Safety Summit at Bletchley Park. Mr Altman and other AI bosses pledged to allow governments to review their systems before they are released at the event, hosted by Prime Minister Rishi Sunak.

Mr Altman is believed to have been sacked in part because of his efforts to raise money for other ventures. 

On Sunday evening, Bloomberg reported that he had been seeking to secure billions from Middle East investors for a new semiconductor company to challenge Nvidia’s grip on the AI market.