Negotiations between OpenAI management and Ultraman are still ongoing to ensure that employees can enjoy the Thanksgiving holiday without any burden.
On November 21st local time, according to foreign media reports, Sam Altman, former CEO of OpenAI, is still in negotiations with the board and interim CEO Emmett Shear, which is expected to bring him back to his position as CEO of OpenAI.
According to relevant sources, Ultraman, Schell, and at least one board member, including Quora's CEO Adam Dangelo, have discussed the matter, with some OpenAI investors hoping for Ultraman's return also participating. If Ultraman returns, he will serve as the CEO of OpenAI and become a member of the transitional board. Several insiders have also indicated that Bret Taylor, former joint CEO of Salesforce, may also become a new board member.
According to reports, venture capital firms such as Thrive Capital, Khosla Ventures, and Tiger Global Management, which are investors in OpenAI, are all pushing for Ultraman's return, and well-known venture capital firm Sequoia Capital is also contributing to this process.
Some sources have stated that OpenAI will work hard to resolve the current chaotic situation before Thanksgiving (November 23), in case employees will spend their holidays with uncertain work conditions.
It is worth mentioning that according to OpenAI's status page, on the afternoon of the 21st, OpenAI's chat robot ChatGPT and API (Application Programming Interface) experienced a small-scale failure for a period of time, which was completely fixed three hours after the failure occurred.
In addition, foreign media reports have reported that as the largest shareholder and partner of OpenAI, Microsoft has started preparing to welcome Ultraman and OpenAI's employees, including freeing up office space and allocating computing resources, and has set up an office area in LinkedIn's San Francisco office, which is only 10 minutes' drive from OpenAI's headquarters in San Francisco.
In addition, there are reports that Microsoft is discussing a series of board reform plans for OpenA, including requiring OpenAI to expand its board size and increase the experience requirements for board members.
On the afternoon of the 21st, Elon Musk, who is known for his ability to watch lively events, also posted on the X (formerly Twitter) platform, stating that he had received a "worth investigating" report letter about OpenAI and attached a link. However, the link was already displayed as invalid after one hour.
According to the comments section, the article used the tone of a former OpenAI employee to report to the board that Ultraman and former OpenAI president Greg Brockman were too eager to pursue AGI (General Artificial Intelligence) and had "deceived" and "controlled" employees. Some netizens also pointed out that the credibility of the report letter is low, and Musk should not disclose it arbitrarily.
Musk's tweet. Source: X
On the evening of November 20th the day before, Anna Makanju, Vice President of Global Affairs at OpenAI, stated in an internal memo that the company's management was engaged in "tense discussions" with Ultraman and Sher in an attempt to unify the divided employees, after over 95% of employees jointly demanded the dismissal of Ultraman's board of directors.
On the evening of the 19th, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella officially presented the "olive branch" to Ultraman, Brockman, and others, inviting them to join Microsoft and lead a new senior AI research team. However, Nadella also stated in subsequent interviews that no matter where Ultraman ultimately chooses to go, Microsoft will support his and his team's work.
Jason Schloetzer, an associate professor at Georgetown University's McDonough School of Business, commented, "All venture capitalists and sovereign wealth funds will queue up to invest in Ultraman and let him do whatever he wants... (After Ultraman joined Microsoft) The only thing they can do is invest in Microsoft