Negotiations to bring Sam Altman back to OpenAI are slowly continuing.
After an explosive weekend and a very confusing Monday, Satya Nadella seems less sure this is going to happen.
— We’re told Altman still wants to return to OpenAI and is continuing talks with the board today.
– as Bloomberg It was reported late last night that new interim CEO Emmett Shear was involved in mediating these negotiations, creating, frankly, an unprecedented situation: (1) Interim CEO taking over (2) The interim CEO who replaced Sam (3) is now (4) deeply involved in trying to get Sam back new Trying to get Sam back. Just read it a few times. It doesn’t make any sense to anyone else either.
– Microsoft’s proposal to hire anyone who threatens to quit is still under discussion and has now become official after being noted in yesterday’s employee strike letter. Overall, Microsoft seems to have moved on from this situation. Nadella is still in it, but has now made several media appearances to reiterate that he will work with Altman and OpenAI “regardless of configuration,” which frankly sounds like he’s talking about plug-and-play devices in Windows Driver Benefits. We all go back to what we know.
— We’re told that everyone, including the board, is trying to stay rational and put OpenAI back together.
We’ll continue to post updates; at least we can say that overall temperatures have dropped, but it’s unclear if this will actually pay off.