Who is behind OpenAI?

OpenAI's co-chairs are Sam Altman and Elon Musk.

OpenAI's research director is Ilya Sutskever, one of the world experts in machine learning. Our CTO is Greg Brockman, formerly the CTO of Stripe. The group's other founding members are world-class research engineers and scientists:

Sam, Greg, Elon, Reid Hoffman, Jessica Livingston, Peter Thiel, Amazon Web Services (AWS), Infosys, and YC Research are donating to support OpenAI. In total, these funders have committed $1 billion, although we expect to only spend a tiny fraction of this in the next few years.

We are grateful for Sam’s many contributions to the founding and growth of OpenAI.

As a part of this transition, Greg Brockman will be stepping down as chairman of the board and will remain in his role at the company, reporting to the CEO.

The board of directors of OpenAI, Inc., the 501(c)(3) that acts as the overall governing body for all OpenAI activities, today announced that Sam Altman will depart as CEO and leave the board of directors.

Mira Murati, the company’s chief technology officer, will serve as interim CEO, effective immediately.

OpenAI’s board of directors consists of OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, independent directors Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, technology entrepreneur Tasha McCauley, and Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology’s Helen Toner.

Testimony of Sam Altman, Co-Founder and CEO, OpenAI

OpenAI Nonprofit’s board consists of OpenAI LP employees Greg Brockman (Chairman & CTO), Ilya Sutskever (Chief Scientist), and Sam Altman (CEO), and non-employees Adam D’Angelo, Holden Karnofsky, Reid Hoffman

Elon Musk left the board of OpenAI Nonprofit in February 2018 and is not formally involved with OpenAI LP.

I am returning to OpenAI as CEO. Mira will return to her role as CTO. The new initial board will consist of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo.

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.

“We have unanimously concluded that Sam and Greg are the right leaders for OpenAI,” stated Bret Taylor, Chair of the OpenAI Board.

On December 8, 2023, the Special Committee retained WilmerHale to conduct a review of the events concerning the November 17, 2023 removal of Sam Altman and Greg Brockman from the OpenAI Board of Directors and Mr. Altman’s termination as CEO.

They will work closely with current board members Adam D’Angelo, Larry Summers and Bret Taylor as well as Greg, Sam, and OpenAI’s senior management.

Fidji Simo, CEO and Chair of Instacart and on the Board of Directors at Shopify

As Chair of the Board, I am excited to welcome Sue, Nicole, and Fidji to the OpenAI Board of Directors.

Nicole Seligman, former EVP and Global General Counsel of Sony and President of Sony Entertainment and on the Board of Directors at Paramount Global, Meira GTx, and Intuitive Machines, Inc.

Additionally, Elon Musk will depart the OpenAI Board but will continue to donate and advise the organization.

The Board is now Greg Brockman, Ilya Sutskever, Holden Karnofsky, and Sam Altman.

All told, Musk contributed more than $44 million to OpenAI, Inc. in its first five critical years.

Elon said we should announce an initial $1B funding commitment to OpenAI. In total, the non-profit has raised less than $45M from Elon and more than $90M from other donors.

We have an investment of approximately 27 percent of OpenAI on an as-converted basis accounted for under the equity method of accounting.

Following the recapitalization, Microsoft holds an investment in OpenAI Group PBC valued at approximately $135 billion, representing roughly 27 percent on an as-converted diluted basis, inclusive of all owners – employees, investors, and the OpenAI Foundation.