Microsoft hires former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman - what will his role be at the tech giant?

A new advanced artificial intelligence (AI) team at Microsoft will be headed by the former chief executive of the company that brought us ChatGPT. Sam Altman was ousted from OpenAI last week, before attempts to reinstate him failed, as he has landed a new role.

The non-profit board of San Francisco-based OpenAI has long-standing ties to Microsoft which is its biggest investor. On Monday, November 20 Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella confirmed on X that Sam Altman had joined the new team.

OpenAI’s former president, Greg Brockman, had also made the switch with Altman and employees at his former company threatened to walkout unless he was reinstated - something which could still happen as Nadella said he was open to allowing Altman to remain at OpenAI.

He said: "We’re extremely excited to share the news that Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, together with colleagues, will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team. We look forward to moving quickly to provide them with the resources needed for their success.

"We remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and have confidence in our product roadmap, our ability to continue to innovate with everything we announced at Microsoft Ignite, and in continuing to support our customers and partners. We look forward to getting to know Emmett Shear and OAI's [OpenAI's) new leadership team and working with them."

What will Sam Altman's new role at Microsoft be?

Nadella announced that both Altman and Brockman will be joining to lead Microsoft’s new advanced AI research team. Altman will have the CEO title of this new group. Microsoft typically only assigns a CEO title to leaders of separate or extremely large businesses inside the software giant. Xbox chief Phil Spencer was named Microsoft Gaming CEO recently, with Microsoft using or continuing CEO positions for a number of its acquisitions, including GitHub, LinkedIn, Mojang, and Activision Blizzard. This could hint at bigger plans for the future in Microsoft’s new advanced AI research team. Altman’s hiring came shortly after negotiations with OpenAI’s board failed to bring him back as its CEO. Former Twitch CEO and co-founder Emmett Shear has been named interim CEO as his initial replacement.