Microsoft is now on OpenAI’s non-profit board

A week after all of the drama surrounding OpenAI has settled, it looks like the company is ready for things to get back to normal. All of the drama started with the company’s non-profit board firing CEO Sam Altman. Well, OpenAI’s got a new board, and Microsoft is now a member.

If you recall, shortly before Thanksgiving, we got the news that Sam Altman was fired from OpenAI. More information made its way to the public as time went on. Since then, Altman has made his way back to the company and all of the drama has subsided.

It’s not 100% clear as to why the company ousted the CEO. According to sources (one including Reuters), researchers at the company warned the board about a potential breakthrough that they feared could be potentially dangerous. The breakthrough project is allegedly called “Q*”. We don’t know any information about this project, so we’ll need to wait for details to come to light.

Microsoft is now on OpenAI’s board

While we wait for more information about this project, we have news about OpenAI’s biggest backer. Microsoft holds a massive 49% stake in the company, and we’re surprised that it hasn’t had a seat on the board until now.

As per the report, Microsoft will have a non-voting seat on the board. So, the Windows maker won’t be able to contribute to any large decisions that the company makes. Rather, this is just so that it can have a “Window” to look in. It wants to have a clearer view of the inner workings of OpenAI.

During all of the drama, Microsoft’s CEO Satya Nadella hinted at the company being pretty indifferent about the situation. During an interview with CNBC, he told the interviewer that Microsoft’s priority is to push AI forward regardless of the company that’s doing it. “I care about just making sure that we can innovate.”

Now, it seems that Microsoft is taking more of an active role in OpenAI’s development. It’s invested more than $13 billion in the company so far (yes, we know, that’s pocket change for Microsoft). So, the future of OpenAI seems to be looking up yet again.