Salesforce
- OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was ousted on Friday, igniting chaos inside the company.
- Amid discussions that the OpenAI board would be remade, Bret Taylor was asked to join.
- The former Salesforce executive and Twitter board chair is no longer poised to do so.
Inside OpenAI, a hunt for new board has taken a turn as one of the key people outraged employees expected to be added is no longer expected to join.
Amid a chaotic three days that included the sudden ouster of CEO and co-founder Sam Altman, and almost immediate negotiations for his return, there was also talk that the board behind the move would be replaced.
The board has succeeded in replacing Altman with a second interim CEO — Emmet Shear, the former Twitch CEO — after the original choice — CTO Mira Murati — joined a group of hundreds of staffers threatening to quit if all members of the board don't resign and Altman won't return. Yet, in another affront to employees, it seems some expected changes to the board are no longer in the works.
Bret Taylor, the former Salesforce executive who was also board chair of Twitter when Elon Musk staged his takeover of that company, was poised to be announced as a new board member as soon as last night, a person familiar with the situation said. Now he is no longer set to join the OpenAI board.
"People are raging mad and mass quitting is imminent," a person inside the company said.
Another person familiar with the company said current board members are still considering additions to their ranks, but now would like to find someone who is of a similar profile to Taylor to join.
Taylor did not respond to a request for comment, nor did a representative of OpenAI.
Taylor's addition to the board was mentioned as a condition in the open letter from hundreds of members of OpenAI's staff. The letter told the current board members they are prepared to leave the company and join Altman at Microsoft, where he will be leading a new project, if the board does not resign. Greg Brockman, the OpenAI president who quit in solidarity with Altman, was also hired by Microsoft.
The company's current board is made up of Adam D'Angelo, CEO of Quora; Tasha McCauley, a tech entrepreneur; Helen Toner, of the Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology; and Ilya Setskever, OpenAI's chief scientist. Although Setskever also signed the open letter threatening to leave the company, he is said to still technically be a member of the board. Altman and Brockman were also previously on the board.
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