Same as it ever was? Apparently, it is, for Sam Altman. According to The New York Times, Sam Altman is reinstated as OpenAI’s CEO!

As reported in their article (Sam Altman Is Reinstated as OpenAI’s Chief Executive, written by Cade Metz, Mike Isaac, Tripp Mickle, Karen Weise and Kevin Roose), Sam Altman was reinstated late Tuesday as OpenAI’s chief executive, the company said, successfully reversing his ouster by OpenAI’s board last week after a campaign waged by his allies, employees and investors.

The company’s board of directors will be overhauled, jettisoning several members who had opposed Mr. Altman. Adam D’Angelo, the chief executive of Quora, will be the only holdover.

OpenAI had an “agreement in principle” for Mr. Altman to return as chief executive, it said in a post to Twitter, er, X. “We are collaborating to figure out the details. Thank you so much for your patience through this.”

“I love openai, and everything i’ve done over the past few days has been in service of keeping this team and its mission together,” Mr. Altman said in a post to Twitter, er, X, adding that he looked forward to reinforcing OpenAI’s partnership with Microsoft, its biggest investor.

OpenAI’s revamped board of directors will include Bret Taylor, an early Facebook officer and former co-chief executive of Salesforce; Lawrence Summers, the former Treasury secretary; and Mr. D’Angelo, a current board member and chief executive of the question and answer site, Quora.

Mr. Taylor will act as board chairman, the company said.

Microsoft supported the move. Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive, said on X that he was “encouraged by the changes to OpenAI board,” calling it a “first essential step on a path to more stable, well-informed, and effective governance.”

Mr. D’Angelo was leading the negotiations, according to two people in touch with the board. The general framework for the changes was in place by late Sunday, one of those people said.

Determining the composition of the board slowed down the decision to bring Mr. Altman back, according to that person and one other. OpenAI called the new board its “initial” board, indicating it could expand.

A person close to the board’s deliberations on Tuesday said that Mr. D’Angelo, Tasha McCauley and Helen Toner pressed for certain concessions from Mr. Altman, including an independent investigation into his leadership of OpenAI. Hmmm.

This is the latest chapter a crazy few days in the OpenAI soap opera. Will the fact that Sam Altman is reinstated as OpenAI’s CEO be the end, or merely the latest chapter in the saga? Same as it ever was? We’ll see.

I’m off today and was going to simply send a Happy Thanksgiving message out, but this is better. Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

So, what do you think? Are you as hooked on the OpenAI soap opera as I am? Please share any comments you might have or if you’d like to know more about a particular topic.

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