Microsoft hires OpenAI founders to lead research team after ChatGPT maker's shakeup

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Microsoft has hired two leading executives from the company that created ChatGPT after one of them was abruptly fired by OpenAI, the startup whose chatbot kicked off the era of generative artificial intelligence

Microsoft on Monday hired two leading executives from the company that created ChatGPT after one of them was abruptly fired by OpenAI, the startup whose chatbot kicked off the era of generative artificial intelligence.

The developments followed a weekend of drama that shocked the AI field and fueled speculation about the future of OpenAI, which named a new chief executive on Friday and then replaced her on Sunday. The newest CEO vowed to investigate the firing of co-founder and CEO Sam Altman, one of the world's most sought-after experts on AI.

Microsoft, which has been a close partner of the company and invested billions of dollars in it, announced that Altman and OpenAI's former president, Greg Brockman, would lead its new advanced AI research team. Brockman, also an OpenAI co-founder, quit in protest after Altman was fired.

Many more OpenAI employees threatened to join them at Microsoft in an open letter addressed to OpenAI's board that called for its resignation and Altman's return.

“If the architects and vision and brains behind these products have now left, the company will be a shell of what is once was,” said Sarah Kreps, director of Cornell University’s Tech Policy Institute. “All of that brain trust going to Microsoft will then mean that these impressive tools will be coming out of Microsoft. It will be hard to see OpenAI continue to thrive as a company.”

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella wrote on X, formerly known as Twitter, that he was “extremely excited” to bring on the pair and looked “forward to getting