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- Sam Altman said he was reluctant about returning to OpenAI, but that feeling was "not for long."
- He told The Verge he first had to get over his "ego and emotions" after being ousted as CEO.
- Altman said his immediate reaction was one of being "hurt and angry" and that "this sucks."
Sam Altman had a moment of doubt about returning to OpenAI after he was ousted as CEO.
He told The Verge he was initially reluctant to make a comeback at the AI firm. Altman said the feeling was "not for long," though, and first he had to "get over the ego and emotions" to discuss the possibility of resuming his role.
OpenAI's previous board pushed him out of the company on November 17. The board said it no longer had "confidence in Altman's ability to continue leading OpenAI", but by the next day he was in talks with some members about being reinstated.
"Saturday morning, some of the board called me and asked if I'd be up for talking about it. And my immediate reaction was sort of one of defiance, it was like, 'Man, I'm hurt and angry, and I think this sucks'," Altman told The Verge.
He quickly realized he's given a lot of his "life force" to OpenAI over the past four-and-a-half years and believes in its mission.
"It took me a few minutes to snap out of it and get over the ego and emotions to then be like, 'Yeah, of course I want to do that'," he said.
The following day he posted a photo on X with an OpenAI guest badge at what appeared to be its office. OpenAI then announced November 22 that they'd "reached an agreement in principle" for Altman's return.
Altman said in a blog post Wednesday that Ilya Sutskever will not get his board seat back, despite the chief scientist saying in an X post on November 27 he "deeply" regretted his involvement in the ousting.
"I love and respect Ilya, I think he's a guiding light of the field and a gem of a human being," Altman wrote. "I harbor zero ill will towards him. While Ilya will no longer serve on the board, we hope to continue our working relationship and are discussing how he can continue his work at OpenAI."
OpenAI didn't immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider, made outside normal working hours.