Sam Altman returned to OpenAI after a scandal with many twists and turns that unfolded in four days, the likes of which Silicon Valley has rarely seen. It looked like OpenAI would suffer and shrink, but things are looking much better now, and Altman has strengthened his position. Who will lose? Who will win?

Sam Altman, 38, has become a very famous and very influential person thanks to the worldwide success of ChatGPT. Altman is credited with much of OpenAI’s success because he was the man who got the small company to receive billions of dollars in funding from Microsoft.

Altman also proved that he has great influence by the fact that hundreds of employees said they were ready to leave the company if Altman did not return. We don’t know how many would go with him to Microsoft, but everyone would be welcomed there with open arms.

The first $1 billion from Microsoft came in 2019 and was critical for OpenAI to get the computing power it needs to build advanced AI language models.

• Sam Altman’s soap opera appears to have come to an end: Open AI announces return as CEO

Sam Altman is also friends with Satya Nadella, the CEO of Microsoft, and here’s another winner: Microsoft. The “palace blow” delivered by OpenAI’s board last Friday was without the knowledge of Microsoft, the company that invested so much money. Then Satya Nadella announced that Altman would be working at Microsoft, and it seemed that OpenAI would almost completely “move” to the tech giant. At the time, Nadella also said that Altman could return to OpenAI if possible, as there would still be a close collaboration between the two companies.

Microsoft has a big influence on OpenAI, which it sees as a high-tech “incubator” for different ideas. OpenAI could not have come this far without Microsoft’s money and support, and it will continue to do so. Perhaps OpenAI needs Microsoft more than the other way around. Microsoft promised to invest 13 billion dollars in OpenAI, but it seems that not all the money has reached the company, it is coming gradually.

• Why the removal of Sam Altman from the leadership of OpenAI upset and stunned many people – Behind the scenes of the megascandal in Silicon Valley

The US press has written these days that OpenAI’s steering committee, which consists of just six members, has had several arguments over the past year about how big the company should become, how development should continue and how, perhaps, a balance should be found. between the desire to grow the company and the desire to safely use AI technologies.

Sources cited by the New York Times said that hours after the board of directors decided to fire Altman on Friday, the company’s remaining executives argued with the board and told them that Sam Altman’s departure jeopardized OpenAI’s future.

Ultimately, this is a defeat for those people at OpenAI who said the company’s growth should be curbed. The board has already changed, and so will likely at OpenAI, which also has a non-profit subsidiary.

However, OpenAI has accepted billions of dollars in funding and needs more to develop ever better versions of ChatGPT. Given the situation, it makes sense that investors would also want their money back.

Sources: New York Times, Washington Post, Reuters, CNN