Is Sam Altman back at OpenAI a win for Microsoft?

OpenAI remains in focus this morning after the artificial intelligence company reinstated Sam Altman as its Chief Executive.

OpenAI adds new members to its board

OpenAI also appointed Bret Taylor to chair its board on Wednesday. He has previously served as the chief executive alongside Marc Benioff at Salesforce that recently offered matching compensation to OpenAI researchers (read more).

Other notable changes the AI firm announced today include addition of Larry Summers – the former Treasury Secretary of the United States. The shake up was essential to a “more stable, well-informed, and effective governance”, as per Microsoft Corp.

Shares of the tech titan are up more than 1.0% at writing.

Note that Greg Brockman who resigned as a sign of protest a day after Altman was ousted is also returning to OpenAI and Adam D’Angelo (Founder of Quora) will stay put as well.

Pro explains what it means for Microsoft

While many are cheering the said development as a win for OpenAI and Microsoft, Alex Kantrowitz of Big Technology says “the reality, as always, is a bit more nuanced”.

For starters, Microsoft is still not represented on the board of OpenAI – for now at least. Kantrowitz is also convinced that this whole episode will eventually lead to “very intense competition” for MSFT.

Nonetheless, he did agree in a post on LinkedIn that Sam Altman returning to lead OpenAI is a “positive resolution” or at least the “least bad option” for Microsoft Corp.