It’s been a tumultuous weekend for OpenAI and this week isn’t getting any better. Hundreds of employees, more than 80% of the company, are now threatening to quit.
In case you missed it, board members ousted CEO Sam Altman on Friday. They simultaneously removed co-founder Greg Brockman from the board, which prompted him to walk away from his company completely.
Investors tried and failed to reinstate Altman over the weekend. Meanwhile, Microsoft seized the chance to hire both men to lead a newly established advanced AI research department.
OpenAI employees accused the board in a letter of having “undermined our mission and company.” They are demanding the board reinstate the co-founder and CEO. After that, they want to see the whole board resign.
They’ve threatened to join Altman at Microsoft if those things don’t happen, and Microsoft seems to be on board with this. Nearly 650 employees have signed that letter. There are only around 770 employees at OpenAI.