From Satya Nadella To Chesky To Chris Anderson: Here's How Tech World Responded To Sam's Departure From OpenAI

The decision by OpenAI's Board of Directors to remove Sam Altman as CEO of the company has taken everybody by storm in the tech world. In a blog post on Friday, the company said, "The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI."

The company said that Mira Murati, the company's chief technology officer, will serve as interim CEO of OpenAI, effective immediately, according to a blog post dated November 17.

Altman has been a central figure in the AI revolution and his shocking dismissal from the company has sent shockwaves across the technology and broader business industry.

Various high-profile figures in the tech space from Satya Nadella to Brian Chesky to Chris Anderson and Eric Schmidt have reacted to this news by taking it to their social media handles.

However, since the announcement of this news, everyone has been waiting to hear what Sam Altman has to say about his departure from the company.

On Saturday, Sam Altman said in a post on X (formerly Twitter), that he loved his time at OpenAI and will have more to say about what's next later.

He wrote, "I loved my time at openai. it was transformative for me personally, and hopefully the world a little bit. most of all I loved working with such talented people.

will have more to say about what's next later."

Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella also reacted to this news on Saturday.

Tech giant Microsoft is heavily invested in OpenAI and this is perhaps the reason why within hours of Altman's sacking Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella rushed to reassure the tech major's commitment to its customers and also welcome Mira Murati, who will serve as interim CEO of OpenAI.

Nadella wrote on X: "As you saw at Microsoft Ignite this week, we're continuing to rapidly innovate for this era of AI, with over 100 announcements across the full tech stack - from AI systems, models, and tools in Azure, to Copilot.

Most importantly, we're committed to delivering all of this to our customers while building for the future. We have a long-term agreement with OpenAI with full access to everything we need to deliver on our innovation agenda and an exciting product roadmap, and remain committed to our partnership, and to Mira and the team. Together, we will continue to deliver the meaningful benefits of this technology to the world."

Following Altman's dismissal, the company's co-founder Greg Brockman announced his departure from the firm too.

Brian Chesky, cofounder and CEO of Airbnb, supported Altman and wrote, "Sam Altman is one of the best founders of his generation and has made an immense contribution to our industry."

Eric Schmidt, who served as the CEO of Google from 2001 to 2011 called Altman his hero, said, Sam Altman is a hero of mine. He built a company from nothing to $90 Billion in value and changed our collective world forever. I can't wait to see what he does next. I, and billions of people, will benefit from his future work- it's going to be simply incredible..."

Chris Anderson, head of TED, said, "OpenAI firing Sam Altman feels like Apple firing Steve Jobs. Who has the real story? Please, we need to know!"