Microsoft Hires Worldcoin Billionaire Sam Altman Days After OpenAI Firing

American multinational technology corporation Microsoft has announced the hiring of former OpenAI Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Sam Altman, two days after the latter fired him from the company he founded.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella shared the news on X (formerly Twitter) which caught most die-hards of the world's tech space by surprise on Monday, November 20.

Joining Altman at Microsoft, Nadella added, is OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and their colleagues who are set to lead Microsoft's new advanced AI research team.

"We’re extremely excited to share the news that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, together with colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team. We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success," Nadella stated.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella with former OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman. /X

On his part, Altman wrote, "The mission continues". Altman is credited with founding the artificial intelligence research company behind the groundbreaking ChatGPT platform.

Nadella expressed optimism regarding Microsoft's partnership with OpenAI, noting that the tech giant would remain committed to its partnership with the Artificial Intelligence (AI)-famous platform.

He also expressed eagerness to get to know the OpenAI new leadership led by Emmett Shear, co-founder of video streaming service Twitch, who was announced as the interim CEO of OpenAI on Sunday.

"We remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and have confidence in our product roadmap, our ability to continue to innovate with everything we announced at Microsoft Ignite, and in continuing to support our customers and partners. We look forward to getting to know Emmett Shear and OAI's new leadership team and working with them," he added.

Shear, who has publicly advocated for a slower rollout of AI, wrote on X on Monday: “I took this job because I believe that OpenAI is one of the most important companies currently in existence."

“Before I took the job, I checked on the reasoning behind the change. The board did *not* remove Sam over any specific disagreement on safety, their reasoning was completely different from that. I’m not crazy enough to take this job without board support for commercialising our awesome models.”

The move followed a dramatic weekend in which Altman was sacked by OpenAI's board on Friday but he and Brockman were subsequently in talks to rejoin OpenAI which however failed to bear fruit.

Employees at OpenAI had rallied behind Altman over the weekend, while leading investors in the company, including Microsoft and top venture firms such as Thrive Capital and Khosla Ventures, had explored the possibility of reinstating him to his former role.

However, some employees focused on AI safety were pleased with the decision to replace Altman, as reported by the Financial Times.

The Microsoft chief has taken on an increasingly important role in the development and commercial rollout of AI tools, in what has been a breakthrough year for the technology.

In a blog post, OpenAI made public Altman's departure, revealing that the board’s decision followed a “deliberative review process” due to Altman’s lack of candour in communications.