Lauren Goode: I’m Lauren Goode. I’m a senior writer at WIRED.
Zoe Schiffer: I’m Zoe Schiffer, WIRED’s director of business and industry.
Michael Calore: OK. I want to start today by going back one year in the past, November 2023, to an event we refer to as the problem.
Lauren Goode: The problem. We don’t just refer to it as the problem. That’s actually the internal phrase used at OpenAI to describe some of the most chaotic three or four days in that company’s history.
(archive audio): The company OpenAI, one of the main players in artificial intelligence, plunged into chaos.
(archive audio): One of the most spectacular corporate falls.
(archive audio): The news on Wall Street today involves the surprising developments in the world of artificial intelligence..
Zoe Schiffer: It really began on November 17, this Friday afternoon, when Sam Altman, the company’s CEO, receives what he says is the most surprising, shocking and difficult news of his professional career.
(archive audio): The shocking firing of former boss Sam Altman.
(archive audio): His dismissal shocked Silicon Valley.
Zoe Schiffer: The board of OpenAI, which at the time was a nonprofit, has lost confidence in him, he says. Even though the company is doing incredibly well in every way, he is out. He is no longer going to run the company.
Michael Calore: He is effectively fired from the company he co-founded.
Zoe Schiffer: Yes. This immediately sets off a chain reaction of events. Its co-founder and president of the company, Greg Brockman, resigns in solidarity. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella says Sam Altman will join Microsoft and lead an advanced AI research team there. We then see almost the entire OpenAI employee base sign a letter that says: “Wait, wait, wait. If Sam leaves, we will leave too.”
(archive audio): About 500 of these 700-odd employees…
(archive audio): … threatening to resign over the board’s abrupt firing of popular OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.
Zoe Schiffer: Ultimately, a tense back-and-forth negotiation ensues between Sam Altman and the board, and the board eventually installs Mira Murati, the CTO, as interim CEO. Then, shortly after, Sam is able to reach a deal with the board and returns as CEO and the board instantly looks different, with Brett Taylor and Larry Summers joining, Adam D’Angelo staying, and the rest of the board leaving.