Microsoft hires OpenAI’s Sam Altman, Greg Brockman

Microsoft is hiring former Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of OpenAI, Sam Altman, following his recent sack from the American artificial intelligence (AI) research organisation.

OpenAI has also developed several large language models, such as ChatGPT and GPT-4, as well as advanced image generation models like DALL-E 2, and in the past, published open-source models.

Altman was fired from OpenAI on Friday, after the board said it “no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.”

After a weekend of negotiations to potentially bring Altman back to OpenAI, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that both Sam Altman and Greg Brockman will be joining to lead Microsoft’s new advanced AI research team.

In a statement published on his X (formerly Twitter) account, Satya said, “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 Shear and OAI’s new leadership team and working with them.

“And we’re extremely excited to share the news that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, together with colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team.

“We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success.”