The title of Microsoft record a new record a Wall Street opening with the arrival of the co-founder and former number one of OpenAI, Sam Altman. Microsoft rose 1.6% in early trading and is now trading around 1% after the new twist in the world of artificial intelligence.
The company announced the hiring of Sam Altman, co-founder and former number one of OpenAI, the start-up behind ChatGPT, whose dismissal came as a surprise last Friday. Shortly after, former Twitch boss Emmett Shear announced that he had accepted the position as OpenAI’s interim number one.
Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, both co-founders of OpenAI“will join Microsoft, along with other colleagues, to lead a new artificial intelligence research team,” the CEO, Satya Nadella, wrote on X.
“The mission continues,” reacted Sam Altman, who at 38 is considered a star of the Silicon Valleyon the same social network.
“We are going to build something new and it will be incredible,” added Greg Brockman on X, announcing the recruitment of several other key OpenAI employees for this new project within Microsoft, whose names he mentions. “We remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and are confident in the roadmap we have established for our product,” added Nadella, whose company has invested several billion dollars in the computing technologies needed for OpenAI and has integrated this technology into own products, such as the Bing search engine.
For his part, Emmett Shear told X that his decision was made “in a matter of hours,” describing it as “the opportunity of a lifetime.” “I accepted this position because I believe that OpenAI is one of the most important companies in existence today. When the Board of Directors informed me of the situation and asked me to take on this role, I did not make the decision lightly,” he commented. Shear plans to launch an independent investigation within 30 days to shed light on Sam Altman’s firing and the upheaval within the start-up.
These announcements come after a tumultuous weekend: On Friday, OpenAI’s board of directors surprisingly announced the immediate firing of Sam Altman following “a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that it was not always blunt in his communications, impeding his ability to fulfill his responsibilities.” The body no longer has “confidence in its ability to lead OpenAI”, it added.