Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella said that oversight of OpenAI needs to change after a dramatic weekend of events that began with the abrupt ouster of the artificial intelligence firm’s CEO, Sam Altman.
“At this point, I think it’s very clear that something has to change around the governance,” Nadella told CNBC during a live, on-air interview on Monday. “And we’ll have a good dialogue with their board on that.”
Nadella said earlier Monday in a social media post that Altman and OpenAI’s former President Greg Brockman would be joining
Microsoft
(ticker: MSFT). He told CNBC that Microsoft remains committed to OpenAI and Altman.
But even after the announcement that Altman was joining Microsoft, it remained unclear whether that would ultimately happen. Reports on Monday said hundreds of OpenAI employees had signed a letter threatening to quit unless the board that had ousted Altman resigned.
Interim OpenAI CEO Emmett Shear said earlier he would start an investigation into the events around the ouster. And there were other reports that Altman allies were still trying to get him back at OpenAI.
Nadella told CNBC it’s up to OpenAI employees to decide where they want to work, either staying in their roles at OpenAI or joining Microsoft, and that’s he’s open to both options.
Write to Janet H. Cho at janet.cho@dowjones.com
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