OpenAI's former CEO Sam Altman may return, reports say

Nov. 19 (UPI) -- OpenAI's board of directors is reportedly in discussions to reinstall ChatGPT developer and former CEO Sam Altman after he was ousted days ago, but it's not clear if he even wants to return.

The Information, a tech news website, reported Altman, 38, was invited to meet with OpenAI executives at the company's San Francisco headquarters on Sunday afternoon. Greg Brockman, who resigned from the company after Altman was fired, was also invited to the meeting, Interim CEO Mira Murati told staff on Sunday morning.

At the same time, Altman is considering launching a new artificial intelligence venture, The New York Times reported.

On Friday, the OpenAI board fired Altman in a surprise move that came after "a deliberative review process."

The news was such a surprise that Microsoft, a leading investor in the company, wasn't aware of it until after it happened. Since then, many of OpenAI's investors and supporters have lobbied to bring him back.

Late Saturday, Altman posted on X: "I love the OpenAI team so much."

While there's no official word on why the board ousted Altman, some speculate tension between Altman, who favored pushing AI more aggressively, and OpenAI board members, who wanted to move cautiously, CNN reported.

Publicly, Altman has advocated for ethical use of AI, meeting with the Biden administration to lobby for responsible development. Axios reported that OpenAI's chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever, who is deeply concerned about dangers of advanced AI, may have persuaded three board members that Altman's approach to AI was too risky.