The OpenAI Board Removed Sam Altman on November 17, 2023. The Company Said He Was Back on November 29.

The weekend is a sequence of documents, not one mood. On Friday, November 17, 2023, OpenAI’s board said Sam Altman was out. On Monday, November 20, The Verge reported a Microsoft offer and a different interim CEO. On Wednesday, November 22, an OpenAI post said there was an agreement in principle for him to return. On November 29, OpenAI published his note that he had returned.

Mr. Musk is not on the board the November 17 post lists. His role in the founding, and the later lawsuit, are separate pages: OpenAI and ChatGPT and Musk v. Altman.

What’s confirmed

November 17: the board’s post

OpenAI’s post that day says the board of OpenAI, Inc., the 501(c)(3) “that acts as the overall governing body for all OpenAI activities,” announced that Sam Altman would depart as CEO and leave the board. Mira Murati, chief technology officer, would be interim CEO, effective immediately. A search for a permanent CEO was underway.

The post says the departure followed “a deliberative review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities. The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.”

The board’s statement in the post thanks him and says “we believe new leadership is necessary as we move forward.”

The post names the board: chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, and independent directors Adam D’Angelo, Tasha McCauley, and Helen Toner. It says Greg Brockman would step down as chairman and remain at the company, reporting to the CEO.

Label: The company’s post. “Not consistently candid” is the board’s conclusion, as the post states it. The post does not list the communications. Mr. Musk is not among the four directors named.

November 20: Microsoft’s offer, and Emmett Shear, as The Verge reported them

The Verge (Tom Warren, November 20, 2023) says Microsoft was hiring Altman and Greg Brockman to lead a new advanced AI research team, and that Altman would have the CEO title of that group. It quotes Satya Nadella: “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.” It says Altman reposted Nadella with the message “the mission continues.” It quotes Nadella that Microsoft has given founders room to build “independent identities and cultures within Microsoft, including GitHub, Mojang Studios, and LinkedIn.”

The same article says Brockman had revealed that Jakub Pachocki, Szymon Sidor, and Aleksander Madry were joining Microsoft in leadership positions. It says Nadella also said Microsoft remained committed to the OpenAI partnership and looked forward to “getting to know Emmett Shear and OAI’s new leadership team.”

The Verge’s companion piece (Tom Warren, November 20, 2023) says Emmett Shear, a Twitch co-founder, was taking over as interim CEO. It quotes a post it attributes to Shear on X: “Today I got a call inviting me to consider a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity: to become the interim CEO of OpenAI,” and “After consulting with my family and reflecting on it for just a few hours, I accepted.” It also quotes him that “the process and communications around Sam’s removal has been handled very badly, which has seriously damaged our trust,” and that the Microsoft partnership “remains strong.”

Label: The Verge. Nadella’s sentences and Shear’s sentences are that outlet’s quotations. Shear’s post was not opened here. A reported hire on November 20 is not the November 29 outcome. The Microsoft blog URL this desk requested returned 403, so the Nadella lines are The Verge’s, not a Microsoft page this desk read.

November 22: an agreement in principle

Thread Reader’s copy of an @OpenAI post, labeled November 22, 2023, status 1727206187077370115, says:

We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo. We are collaborating to figure out the details. Thank you so much for your patience through this.

Label: Thread Reader’s text of that status. “In principle” is the post’s phrase. It is not the November 29 note, and it is not a board resolution this desk opened.

November 29: the company’s note that he had returned

OpenAI’s November 29 post publishes messages from Altman and from Bret Taylor. Altman writes: “I am returning to OpenAI as CEO. Mira will return to her role as CTO. The new initial board will consist of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo.”

He writes that Ilya Sutskever “will no longer serve on the board.” He thanks “Emmett” for “a key and constructive role.” He writes: “Now that we’re through all of this, we didn’t lose a single employee,” and “The fact that we did not lose a single customer will drive us to work even harder for you.” He writes that Jakub, Szymon, and Aleksander “have rejoined.”

Taylor writes that the board would include “a non-voting observer for Microsoft,” and that an independent committee of the board would oversee “a review of the recent events.”

An update on the same page, dated December 8, 2023, from Taylor, says the committee of Taylor and Larry Summers selected Anjan Sahni and Hallie B. Levin of WilmerHale to conduct the review, and that “while the review is ongoing” the board would keep strengthening governance.

Label: The company’s post. “Didn’t lose a single employee” and “did not lose a single customer” are his sentences in that note. They are not a headcount this desk audited. The three names he says have rejoined are the three The Verge, on November 20, said Brockman had named as joining Microsoft. The December 8 update says the review was ongoing. This page does not carry a later report.

The November 29 board he names is three people. Tasha McCauley and Helen Toner are not on that list. Adam D’Angelo is on both the November 17 list and the November 29 list.

Claims and open questions

The Verge’s November 20 Microsoft article says Microsoft’s investment was “rumored to be worth around $10 billion,” and the Shear article says Microsoft was “rumored to own 49 percent of OpenAI.” Label: The Verge’s word is “rumored.” This desk did not open an investment agreement. Those figures are not used above as facts.

“Not consistently candid” is the board’s November 17 conclusion. The post does not exhibit the communications. The WilmerHale review, as of the December 8 update, had been assigned and had not, on that page, reported.

Mr. Musk’s comments that weekend, if he made them, are not on this page. No post of his from those days was opened. He is absent from the November 17 board list. That absence is not a history of when he left the board. The founding record and the lawsuit are the other two pages.

Shear’s acceptance, as The Verge quotes it, was a post. Altman’s November 29 thanks does not say Shear remained interim CEO. The outcome the company published is Altman’s return.

On the map

The founding chairs and the ChatGPT dates are OpenAI and ChatGPT. The case filed later is Musk v. Altman. The company he built afterward is xAI, and the 2025–2026 combination of X, xAI, and SpaceX is the ownership page.

Sources

Checked October 20, 2026. OpenAI’s two posts were read through a fetch on that day. A plain request for the November 17 URL later returned 403 from this environment. The sentences above are from the fetch.