OpenAI Employees Demand Board Reshuffle
Over 730 OpenAI employees - 95% of the staff - just signed a letter demanding the board resign and Sam Altman be reinstated as CEO. This is one of the most dramatic employee revolts I've seen in tech. When almost your entire company threatens to quit, you've lost control.
The board fired Altman for communication issues, which was already a weak justification. Now Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI's chief scientist who voted to fire Altman, is saying he regrets it. That's a devastating admission. If the person who helped oust the CEO is backtracking publicly, the board's position is indefensible.
What makes this even wilder is Microsoft's move. Satya Nadella immediately hired Altman and Brockman to lead a new AI research unit at Microsoft. That's not just poaching - that's offering the entire team an escape route. The message to OpenAI employees is clear: "Follow your leaders to Microsoft where they'll actually let you work."
This isn't just about Sam Altman anymore. It's about whether OpenAI can function as an organization. If the board doesn't reverse course, they're going to watch their entire company walk out the door to Microsoft. That would be the fastest self-destruction of a unicorn company in tech history.