More than three days after OpenAI was thrown into chaos by Sam Altman's sudden firing from his post as CEO, one big question remains unanswered: Why? Altman was removed by OpenAI's non-profit board through an unconventional governance structure that as one of the company's cofounders he helped to create. It gave a small group of individuals wholly independent of the ChatGPT maker's core operations the power to dismiss its leadership, in the name of ensuring humanity-first oversight of its AI technology. The board's brief and somewhat cryptic statement announcing Altman's departure said the directors had "concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities." Altman was replaced by CTO Mira Murati who was appointed interim CEO. Greg Brockman, like Altman an OpenAI cofounder, was removed from his post as chair of the board and quit the company in solidarity with Altman several hours later. There have been many twists and turns since Friday, with Altman making a failed attempt to return as CEO, the board replacing Murati as interim CEO with Twitch cofounder Emmett Shear, Microsoft announcing it would hire Altman and Brockman, and almost every OpenAI employee threatening to quit unless Altman returned.

Just after 2am Pacific Time on Monday morning, several OpenAI staffers, including its chief technology officer Mira Murati, posted in unison on X "OpenAI is nothing without its people." Sam Altman, who was dramatically removed as the company's chief executive on Friday, reposted many of them. By then, Altman already had a new job. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, a major investor and partner of OpenAI, announced late on Sunday night that Altman and his cofounder Greg Brockman would be joining the tech giant to head a new "advanced AI research team." Nadella's statement seemed to suggest that others from the startup would be joining Microsoft.