Dissatisfied, angry...Sam Altman responded for the first time about the process of returning to work, and it will take time to improve the OpenAI governance structure

## After a boardroom coup that lasted five days, Sam Altman Officially returned to the position of CEO of OpenAI yesterday. Microsoft, the company's largest investor, also holds a non-voting seat on the board.

In addition to an open letter to all employees, Altman, who returned to work, also clarified Adam D'Angelo (also Quora CEO), who was once suspected of a potential conflict of interest but remained on the board of directors, trusting him to abide by the Responsible, "Quora is a big customer of OpenAI, and it is helpful to have customer representatives on the board of directors." Even interact with them on social platforms.

##Meanwhile, Ilya’s presence at OpenAI remains unclear. Greg Brockman, who resumed his position as president, posted a latest group photo on social media. The former "foursome" has become "three without one". The "together" in the post is worth pondering.

According to BBC news, Microsoft President Brad Smith recently accepted an interview with the media and said that the recent turmoil in OpenAI is not caused by the security concerns and disagreements rumored in the market. "I don't think that's the reason at all. It's obviously a difference of opinion between the board and other members," he said.

With the same question, technology media TheVerge interviewed Altman and CTO Mira Murati after his official return. This was also the first time the two of them accepted media interviews after the "shock" and responded to the incident.

When the board of directors asked Sam Altman to return to the company one day after firing him, he was initially dissatisfied, hurt and angry.

"It took me a few minutes to pick myself up and get over myself and my emotions and say, 'Yeah, of course I want to do this,'" he told reporters in a phone interview Wednesday.

In the interview, Altman repeatedly refused to answer the biggest mystery lingering on everyone's mind: why he was fired. However, the new board led by Bret Taylor will conduct an independent investigation into what happened. "I welcome it very much," he told reporters.

The following is the reporter’s complete interview with the two people. For the sake of clarity, this article has been slightly edited:

Reporter: I would like to talk about an issue that cannot be ignored. We still cannot Know the exact reason why you were fired. Why do you think you were fired?

Sam Altman (SA): The board will conduct an independent review. I very much welcome this. I don’t have much more to say right now, but I’m looking forward to learning more.

Why do you think the board of directors said it has lost trust in you?(The previous board of directors did not disclose the specific reason for the dismissal, but only stated in the statement that it was because he was communicating with the board of directors "He was not always honest", so they "lost confidence" in his leadership. - Machine PowerNote)

SA: This is a problem for them Say is a better question.

You just said on , there was "clearly a real misunderstanding" between you and the board members. What are those misconceptions?

SA: I’m not ready to talk about that. I think it's very important to keep this review process going. I'm happy to talk about anything forward-thinking. I guess one day in the future I'll be happy to talk about what happened here, but not right now.

Can you tell me why I can’t say it now?

SA: I just want the process to take its course and not interfere.

You talked about Ilya Sutskever (Chief Scientist at OpenAI) in your letter to employees. Can you tell me why he changed his mind and decided to side with others?

Mira Murati (MM): We don’t know. You have to ask Ilya about that.

In hindsight, what was the main motivation that kept you coming back?

SA: That’s interesting. Some of the board members called me on Saturday morning and asked if I would like to discuss it. My first reaction was to resist. It was like, "Man, I'm hurt, I'm angry, I feel bad about this." And then, pretty quickly, I started thinking about it, and it became clear that I really liked this company. I've been immersed in this company for the past four and a half years, but actually longer than that, the vast majority of my time. We are making tremendous progress toward safe and beneficial AGI, which I care deeply about. But also thank you to everyone and all the partners who have made such a big bet on us, and Mira and the leadership team and all the people who are doing an amazing job here. It took me a few minutes to pick myself up, get over myself and my emotions, and say, "Yeah, of course I want to do this."


So, the board asked you to come back?
SA: Yes.


Were you hesitant at first?
SA: Not for long. After that happened to me, I felt very uncomfortable.


It’s obvious that the staff is with you. How much of a factor do you think that is?
SA: There is no doubt that we are able to get through this thanks to a stronger, more united, more focused and more committed team.We had a lot of faith and focus before and even more now, which is my silver lining.

During the entire process, we did not lose a single employee or customer. They not only kept the product evolving despite unmanageable growth but also rolled out new features. Research also continues to make progress.

Do you want to get back on the board?

SA: This sounds like a PR talking point, which is not my area of ​​focus right now. I have a lot of very difficult, important and urgent work to do. I want to be able to do my job well, but that has nothing to do with being on the board. It’s not something I spend time thinking about right now.

What do you mean by "improving the governance structure" (which you mentioned in your open letter)? Will the structure of the non-profit holding company change?

SA: This Questions are best left to board members, but now is not the time. The honest answer is that they need time and we will support them to really think about it. Clearly, there is a problem with our governance structure. And the best way to solve this problem is to take a while. I totally understand why people want answers now. But I also think it’s totally unreasonable to want to know the answer right now.

Why do you think this is unreasonable? People have seen a lot of unpredictable things from what happened, which seem to be disagreements rather than things like malfeasance.

SA: Designing a really good governance structure for such an impactful technology is not something you can do in a week. It takes a lot of time to think, debate, listen to outside perspectives, do stress testing, it takes time.

Will OpenAI’s security working methods change as a result of the events that just occurred?

MM: No. This has nothing to do with safety.

There were recent reports that you all had a Q* model breakthrough, what’s going on?

SA: No special comment on that unfortunate leak . But we've been saying -- we've said it two weeks ago, we've said it today, we've said it a year ago, we've said it earlier -- that we expect this technology to continue to advance rapidly and we want to continue to work on figuring out how to make it Safe and helpful. This is why we get up early every day. This is why we will get up every day in the future. We are very much in agreement on this.

Without commenting on any specific thing or project, we believe that progress is research. There's always a chance you'll hit a wall, but we expect technology will continue to make significant advances. We want to participate in the world and make it as good as possible.

Last question: I believe you are still thinking about everything that happened because you have never experienced it. What did you learn from the whole incident?

SA: I don’t have a concise answer yet. Obviously (learned) a lot, but I’m still figuring it out. I mean, there's definitely a lot to say, but I don't think I'm ready yet... At this point, all I can get is a long, rambling answer.

Okay, let’s leave that for next time. (After hanging up, Altman called back a moment later.)

SA: I learned that the company can function without me, which is a very good thing. I'm excited to be back, don't get me wrong. But I came back without any pressure like, "Oh my gosh, I have to do this, or the company needs me." I feel good, maybe because I picked good leaders or maybe I coached them well. I'm glad the company will be fine without me and the team is ready and upgraded.


Reference link
https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/29/23982046/sam-altman-interview-openai-ceo-rehired

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