Ex-Twitch boss appointed as interim CEO of OpenAI, as former CEO joins Microsoft

UNITED STATES, Nov. 20 – Microsoft powered OpenAI has made a fresh appointment to speed up the growth  of the startup as it engaged ex-Twitch boss Emmett Shear to lead the firm, replacing Sam Altman whom Microsoft moved to  a higher responsibilities to lead a new advanced AI research team, this was made known to the public by the CEO of the software giant late on Sunday.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella posted this on  X (formerly Twitter) “We look forward to getting to know Emmett Shear and OAI’s new leadership team and working with them.”  He added the company remains committed to its partnership with OpenAI.

According to our sources, Shear was named interim CEO.

The mild drama witness in the tech world on Friday that saw the Board firing Altman as CEO of the company behind ChatGPT has baffled efforts by investors and employees of the firm to stabilized the situation by bringing him back and moved him to another position of responsibilities.

The fear of his abrupt sack griped the management who foresee possible mass exodus of talent and impact an upcoming $86 billion share sale.

Microsoft CEO said  Altman would be in the Microsoft team to “lead a new advanced AI research “.

It was earlier reported that the former OpenAI boss, Altman was talking about a possible come back to OpenAI and changing the governance structure of the company, even as he planed unveiling a new AI business.

Biztv24 tech team gathered that on Sunday Altman and Greg Brockman, who left  the OpenAI board as chairman as part of the management shuffle, later joined executives at the company’s headquarters following the decision of the interim CEO Mira Murati who told staff she invited Altman.

Miicrosoft CEO, Nadella also said Brockman would join the software company.

Interstingly, Altman on one of his X post on Sunday is an image of himself wearingan OpenAI guest badge with the caption: “first and last time I ever wear one of these.” In another post on X, he reshared Nadella’s message with a comment “the mission continues”.

The newly appointed Open AI Boss, Shear was also a co-founder of Twitch and had earlier this year resigned from the Amazon.com-owned live video streaming platform.

The issue with Brockman who quited was never a management decision but a ripple effect of the abrupt sack of Altman  on Friday. Their departures blindsided many employees who discovered the abrupt management change from an internal message and the company’s public blog, Reuters Reported on.

According to Reuters, “Some researchers including Szymon Sidor have also left the company following the CEO change, two people familiar with the matter said. Sidor confirmed quitting.

“The Information first reported the appointment of Shear as interim CEO.

“Shortly after the internal announcement of Shear’s appointment, distraught employees “streamed out” of OpenAI headquarters in San Francisco, The Information reported.

“Dozens of staffers internally announced they were quitting the company on Sunday night, it said, citing a person with knowledge of the situation,” Reuters added

The emergence of OpenAI just a year ago has resulted in the disappearance of the generative AI through the introduction of ChatGPT. Interestingly Google owned  chatbot has become one of the world’s fastest-growing software applications.