Sam Altman rejoins OpenAI’s board after investigation into sudden firing

An independent investigation commissioned by OpenAI’s nonprofit board has found that CEO Sam Altman’s conduct “did not mandate removal.” After surviving an attempted boardroom coup in November, he will now rejoin the board.

In a press release, board chair Bret Taylor said the law firm WilmerHale interviewed board members, employees, and reviewed “more than 30,000 documents” to reach the conclusion that Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman “are the right leaders for OpenAI.”

In addition to Altman, Taylor also announced three more OpenAI board members: Sue Desmond-Hellmann, the former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Nicole Seligman, a former legal executive at Sony; and Fidji Simo, the CEO of Instacart. They will join Taylor, Altman, Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, and Larry Summers in governing OpenAI’s nonprofit parent company.

For those seeking to better understand why Altman was suddenly fired from his perch last fall, OpenAI’s public summary of the WilmerHale investigation is frustratingly light on details. The law firm said the board believed it “would mitigate internal management challenges” by firing Altman suddenly, and that the “decision did not arise out of concerns regarding product safety or security, the pace of development, OpenAI’s finances, or its statements to investors, customers, or business partners.”