Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

Sam Altman’s surprise move to Microsoft after his shock firing at OpenAI isn’t a done deal. He and co-founder Greg Brockman are still open to returning to OpenAI if the remaining board members who fired him step aside, multiple sources tell The Verge.

The promised mass exodus of virtually every OpenAI employee, including board member and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever who led the move to depose Altman, means that there is more push to remove the board than ever, and only two of three remaining board members need to flip to make it happen. Altman just posted on X that “we are all going to work together some way or other,” which we are told is meant to indicate that the fight continues.

Altman, former president Greg Brockman, and the company’s investors are all trying to find a graceful exit for the board, says one source with direct knowledge of the situation, who characterized the Microsoft hiring announcement as a “holding pattern.”

Microsoft declined to comment.