OpenAI's employees revolt, threaten to quit unless board reinstates Altman and resigns
More than 500 of OpenAI's roughly 770 employees demand Sam Altman be reinstated as CEO
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A majority of OpenAI's employees are ready to walk off the job unless the board reinstates Sam Altman as CEO and its members step down.
More than 500 of the artificial intelligence company's roughly 770 workers signed a letter submitted to its board of directors and obtained by FOX Business, threatening to follow Altman to Microsoft unless their demands are met.
The employees at OpenAI are revolting against the board after its members fired CEO Sam Altman. (LIONEL BONAVENTURE/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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"Your actions have made it obvious that you are incapable of overseeing OpenAI," the letter reads. "We are unable to work for or with people that lack competence, judgement and care for our mission and employees. We, the undersigned, may choose to resign from OpenAI and join the newly announced Microsoft subsidiary run by Sam Altman and Greg Brockman."
It adds, "Microsoft has assured us that there are positions for all OpenAI employees at this new subsidiary should we choose to join."
The OpenAI board fired Altman on Friday, accusing him of failing to be "consistently candid in his communications" with the board. Late that evening, Brockman, OpenAI's president and co-founder of the company that developed the popular software ChatGPT, announced on X that he was quitting.
Former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman speaks during a meeting at the Station F in Paris on May 26, 2023. OpenAI's board of directors fired Altman on Friday. (Photo by JOEL SAGET/AFP via Getty Images / Getty Images)
On Sunday, Altman met with the board at OpenAI's headquarters in an attempt to return, but the board declined to reinstate him and instead named former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear as his interim replacement.
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Then on Monday morning, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced on X that Altman and Brockman would lead a new advanced AI research team at Microsoft, which has invested heavily in OpenAI.
Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft Corp., speaks during a Microsoft product event in New York on Wednesday, Oct. 2, 2019. Nadella announced Monday that Microsoft has hired ousted OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. (Photographer: Mark Kauzlarich/Bloomberg via Getty Images / Getty Images)
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OpenAI's board of directors could not immediately be reached for comment regarding the employee letter.
FOX Business' Kelly O'Grady and Greg Wehner contributed to this report.