On November 17, 2023, OpenAI’s board of directors fired Sam Altman as CEO. The board’s statement said only that Altman was “not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities.” Four days later, after the most dramatic corporate crisis in recent tech history, Altman returned as CEO and the board was entirely restructured.

The timeline

Thursday, November 16: Altman spoke at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in San Francisco. He hinted at a significant development: “Four times now in the history of OpenAI, the most recent time was just in the last couple weeks, I’ve gotten to be in the room when we sort of push the veil of ignorance back and the frontier of discovery forward.” What exactly this referred to was never publicly clarified.

Friday, November 17: In the afternoon, OpenAI published a statement announcing that Altman would “depart the company” and that CTO Mira Murati would become interim CEO. The board said it had conducted a “deliberative review process” and concluded that Altman had not been “consistently candid in his communications.” Greg Brockman, president and board chair, was informed he was being removed from the board. He resigned from the company shortly after.

Saturday, November 18: Reports emerged that Altman was in discussions to return. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was involved in negotiations. Three senior OpenAI researchers resigned in protest.

Sunday, November 19: In a sudden reversal, OpenAI announced that former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear would become interim CEO instead of Altman. Simultaneously, Nadella announced that Altman and Brockman would join Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team. However, negotiations to return Altman to OpenAI continued.

Monday, November 20: More than 700 of OpenAI’s approximately 770 employees signed an open letter demanding the board resign and threatening to follow Altman to Microsoft if the situation was not resolved. The letter stated: “Your actions have destabilized the company and harmed our mission.”

Tuesday-Wednesday, November 21-22: Negotiations continued. The board agreed to resign. On Wednesday, OpenAI announced that Altman would return as CEO. Bret Taylor (former Salesforce co-CEO) would become board chair, joined by Larry Summers (former Treasury Secretary) as a new director. Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s chief scientist and a board member who had initially voted to fire Altman, did not return to the new board.

What the board never explained

The specific reasons for Altman’s firing were never publicly disclosed. The board’s original statement mentioned a lack of candor but provided no details. Subsequent reporting suggested disagreements about the pace of commercialization, safety priorities, and corporate governance, but no definitive account emerged.

Altman was not accused of financial misconduct or illegal activity. The board later acknowledged that its decision was not based on “malfeasance or anything related to our financial, business, safety, or security/privacy practices.”

What changed

The crisis resulted in fundamental changes to OpenAI’s governance:

Board restructure: The original board was replaced. The new board initially consisted of Bret Taylor, Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo (the only original member retained). The board was later expanded to include Microsoft as a non-voting observer.

Nonprofit-commercial tension: OpenAI had an unusual structure where a nonprofit board controlled a for-profit operating company. The crisis highlighted the tension between nonprofit governance and commercial operations. OpenAI subsequently announced plans to restructure as a more conventional for-profit company, completed in stages through 2025 and 2026.

Microsoft’s position: Microsoft’s $10+ billion investment in OpenAI gave it significant leverage, but the crisis revealed the limits of that leverage: Microsoft had no board seat and could not prevent the firing. The resolution gave Microsoft formal observer status on the new board.

Employee power: The employee revolt, with over 90% of staff threatening to quit, proved decisive. The crisis demonstrated that in AI companies, talent concentration creates unusual leverage.

Why it matters

The November 2023 crisis revealed several dynamics that continue to shape the AI industry:

Governance matters: The structure of AI companies, who controls them, what accountability mechanisms exist, became a topic of serious public discussion.

Safety vs. commercial tension: The original OpenAI board had a mandate to prioritize safety. The new board was more aligned with commercial interests. This shift accelerated OpenAI’s product releases and commercial expansion.

Talent concentration: The threat of mass resignation showed that frontier AI companies depend on relatively small numbers of highly specialized researchers and engineers.

Investor limits: Even multi-billion-dollar investors like Microsoft found their control limited by the nonprofit governance structure.

For builders, the lesson is that the AI companies you depend on are not stable institutions in the traditional sense. Key personnel can leave, governance can change, and priorities can shift rapidly. Build with portability in mind.

What happened to the key players

Sam Altman returned as CEO and has remained in the role since. OpenAI’s valuation and revenue have grown substantially under his continued leadership.

Greg Brockman returned as president and remains at the company.

Mira Murati continued as CTO until October 2024, when she departed along with two other senior executives.

Ilya Sutskever initially remained at OpenAI but left in May 2024 to co-found a new AI safety startup, Safe Superintelligence Inc.

Emmett Shear served as interim CEO for approximately two days. He later praised the resolution and returned to his role as a startup investor.

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