Sam Altman is busy these days shaping the next phase of OpenAI but he could have easily been leading Microsoft's AI team if things had gone the other way.

Sam Altman Breaks Silence on OpenAI Board Controversy: Here’s His Response

Adarsh V.KMarch 21, 24 Microsoft, OpenAI, Satya Nadella

Sam Altman is back at the helm of OpenAI and managed to get new people to join its board. However, Altman has been through a lot these past few months, and it’s not just the knuckle-fighting between him and Elon Musk.

As you may recall, Altman was fired by OpenAI, prompting Microsoft’s Satya Nadella to hire him to lead a new AI research group at the company. However, things did not end there. Altman somehow managed to find love from his colleagues at OpenAI, who sent the company a written warning saying Altman would be back or they would join him at Microsoft.

Altman eventually returned to OpenAI, where he is now designing the next phase of the company’s AI revolution. But what did OpenAI face and go through the whirlwind 48 hours that culminated in the OpenAI saga? OpenAI’s CEO has been candid about this journey in a recent podcast, which he called the “preventively most painful professional experience” of his life.

Altman thanked the people who supported him during the season, including co-workers who were willing to give up their jobs and join forces with him at Microsoft. More importantly, his experience with the OpenAI board situation made him feel depressed, really painful and hard.

It’s interesting to hear Altman talk about his feelings and also the positive lessons he can take from the entire episode. He is now more confident and has learned about the need for an OpenAI board and what kind of people it should have.

After what he had to go through last time with the board members, we’re hardly surprised to hear this from him. He is also aware that the board needs members who are able to offer versatile expertise, which he thinks the previous board group was not able to offer to the company.

Microsoft’s Nadella has also spoken highly of Altman recently, sharing his opinions and thoughts behind working with Altman and Co. “I met people at OpenAI — Sam (Altman) and Greg (Brockman) — [and what they were talking about] was that they had a different approach to things and we wanted to partner,” Nadella said on the podcast.