A key OpenAI executive played a crucial role in Sam Altman’s Ouster

More than three months after OpenAI’s board of directors briefly ousted Sam Altman, the CEO of the high-profile artificial intelligence company, questions remain about what exactly prompted the board to make such a dramatic move.

A report from an outside law firm, expected in the coming days, could shed more light on the board’s decision and the chaotic five days before Mr. Altman returned to the company.

But as anticipation for the report mounts, previously unreported details are emerging about the role Mira Murati, OpenAI’s chief technology officer, played in Mr. Altman’s ouster.

Ms. Murati wrote a private memo to Mr. Altman asking questions about his management and also shared her concerns with the board. That move helped fuel the board’s decision to force him out, according to people with knowledge of the board discussions who requested anonymity because of the sensitive nature of a personnel matter.

Around the same time, Ilya Sutskever, co-founder and chief scientist of OpenAI, raised similar concerns, citing what he characterized as Mr. Altman’s history of manipulative behavior, the people said. Both executives described a hot-and-cold relationship with Mr. Altman. While it was not clear whether they gave specific examples, the executives said he sometimes created a toxic work environment by excluding executives who did not support his decisions, the people said.

Ms. Murati’s interactions with the board provide insight into the issues arising at OpenAI’s senior levels, although both executives publicly supported Mr. Altman’s return to the company.

WilmerHale, the law firm conducting the investigation, is expected to complete the process soon. The company is expected to announce a new board of directors at the same time, some say. Several directors left the board after Mr. Altman returned to the company in November.

Hannah Wong, a spokeswoman for OpenAI, said in a statement that the company’s senior leadership team, led by Mr. Murati during her time as interim chief executive, unanimously called for Mr. Altman’s return, as well as an open letter signed by 95 percent of employees. Employees of OpenAI.

“The strong support from his team underlines that he is an effective CEO who is open to different points of view, willing to solve complex challenges and shows care for his team,” said Ms Wong.

Mr. Altman declined to comment. Ms. Murati did not respond to a request for comment. Mr Sutskever’s lawyer said claims that he had approached the board were “categorically false”.

(The New York Times sued OpenAI and Microsoft in December for copyright infringement of news content related to AI systems.)

Since November, OpenAI and its investors have been scrambling to contain the fallout from the incident, which threatened to rock one of the tech industry’s most important startups. OpenAI was valued at over $80 billion in its latest funding round.

Many of the remaining 700-plus employees at OpenAI — many of whom threatened to quit when Mr. Altman was fired — hope to put the events of November behind them. (Some employees call that period “The Blip.”)

But there are others who are hopeful that the WilmerHale investigation will provide a thorough accounting of the events surrounding Mr. Altman’s firing. It is not clear whether the full report or a summary of it will be released to the public.

At the time of Mr. Altman’s resignation, OpenAI’s six-person board consisted of Dr. Sutskever; Helen Toner, an AI researcher who works at a Georgetown University think tank; Adam D’Angelo, a former Facebook executive; Greg Brockman, co-founder and president of the company; Tasha McCauley, deputy senior management scientist at the RAND Corporation; and Mr. Altman.

As a condition of Mr. Altman’s reinstatement, executives agreed to reshuffle OpenAI’s board with a more diverse and independent group of directors. OpenAI’s six-member board was reduced to an interim board of three: Bret Taylor, a former Salesforce and Facebook executive, joined as chairman and helped appoint a new set of directors. Lawrence H. Summers, the former Secretary of the Treasury, also joined. Mr. D’Angelo will remain on the board.

In October, Ms. Murati approached some members of the board and raised concerns about Mr. Altman’s leadership, the people said.

She described what some saw as Mr. Altman’s playbook, which included manipulating executives to get what he wanted. First, Ms. Murati said that Mr. Altman would tell people what they wanted to hear to charm them and support his decisions. If they didn’t go along with his plans or if they took too long to make a decision, he would try to undermine the credibility of people who challenged him, the people said.

Ms. Murati told the board that she had previously sent a private memo to Mr. Altman outlining some of her concerns about his behavior and shared some details of the memo with the board, the people said.

Around the same time in October, Dr. Sutskever members of the board and raised similar issues about Mr. Altman, the people said.

Some members of the board were concerned that Ms. Murati and Dr. Sutskever would leave the company if Mr. Altman’s conduct was not addressed. They also worried that the company would experience an exodus of talent if top lieutenants left.

There were other factors that played a role in the decision. Some members were concerned about the creation of the OpenAI Startup Fund, a venture capital fund founded by Mr. Altman. Unlike a typical corporate investment fund, which is a legal extension of the company, Mr. Altman was the legal owner for the OpenAI Fund and raised money from external limited partners.

The OpenAI fund used that money to invest in other artificial intelligence startups. Some board members became concerned that Mr. Altman was using the fund to avoid the responsibility of OpenAI’s nonprofit governance structure. They confronted Mr. Altman last year over his legal ownership and operational control of the fund.

Axios has previously reported on Mr. Altman’s control of the OpenAI fund.

Board members began discussing their next steps after being approached by Ms. Murati and Dr. Sutskever. In mid-November, the board planned to appoint Ms. Murati as interim director while it conducted a search for a new CEO, the people said. The board removed Mr. Altman on November 17.

In the days that followed, Mr. Altman waged a public battle to regain his position, using a mix of public pressure and powerful allies in Silicon Valley to push for his reinstatement. Most of OpenAI’s 770 employees threatened to leave if he was not reinstated as CEO. Ms. Murati and Dr. Sutskever quickly — and publicly — said they supported Mr. Altman’s return to the company. Dr. Sutskever has not returned to his normal duties at the company, some people said.

After five days of back and forth in public, Mr. Altman returned to work.