Is Microsoft the new OpenAI of the Future?

I am going to tell you the quickest not to believe theory that happened in less than 72 hours where multiple plots were seems to be pre-planned and executed swiftly.

Story timeline start on Friday-

Suddenly, Friday afternoon the Open AI board fired Sam Altman by the OpenAI board members interestingly, all of them are non-profit board members, who have no skin in the game. These board members are basically playing the role of advisors without any accountability and responsibility. Suddenly, on Friday they smoked something, and they felt Sam Altman is not aligned any longer. So, Sam got fired immediately.

Now, all the employees revolted over the weekend to reinstate Sam. The board-selected CEO Mira Murati also wanted Sam back in the business. What happens next Sam gave conditions for reinstatement to which the board did not agree obviously leaving no chance to return for Sam and also other key stakeholders who were removed or resigned along with Sam.

Then Nadella came into the picture and said to Altman -

Hey Parth, Why to worry. Who are they to fire you - you are the only OpenAI's Brahma, Vishu and Mahesh. I'm as Kuber investing in OpenAI ultimately providing the funds for them to run, isn't it?

So why to worry, "Tum bus Shashtra uthayo, Vijay tumhari hogi"

Translation: You only need to do your job and keep inspiring, rest leave on God (Microsoft in this case).

In the next 24 hours, Nadella might have formed a special AI unit within Microsoft and orchestrated the entire show to onboard Altman and his team. Apparently 14 people from OpenAI leadership team also showed their interest to join Microsoft if Sam Altman and Greg Brockman are not being called back in OpenAI including new interim CEO Mira Murati, Brad Lightcap, Jason Kwon, Alec Radford and many more.

Now let me guess, what actually might have happened behind the curtain? When Microsoft came with the billion-dollar investment, they most probably planned this long back and were waiting for the right time. Microsoft was not able to exercise the muscle and Sam also was not getting the financial enablement required for the next set of development in #GenrativeAI multi-billion dollar race. Microsoft aka Nadella wanted Sam within Microsoft badly and Sam needed a place where bleeding millions of dollar in the short term would not be a problem to be able to develop the next-gen AI work which is actually required for industrial use. So, these non-profit board members in my opinion staged by Microsoft itself and Sam and Nadella were ready with the script to be executed over this weekend.

"In Business, the speed of decision-making is given the highest skills in a leadership position and then making it a right decision, later."

Does it look like a perfect timelined story and Nadella and Sam planned it long before anybody could guess? In the end, Nadella got the best and proven team ever to execute the GenAI work he has been planning for years and get a sense of security from its competitor. Meanwhile, Sam Altman and his team got the place they wanted to invest in long term leaving short-term benefits assigned.

The icing on the cake, Microsoft being the largest investor in OpenAI has all the Intellectual properties (IPs) of OpenAI.

Business Outcome: Nadella just added ~ $54bn valuation in less than 72 hours over the weekend while most of us watching India Vs Australia World Cup Final :)

This is called Real Business - Satya Style

Reference Articles and Credits:

Image Credit: Barath Subramanian

Microsoft emerges victorious from OpenAI meltdown with Sam Altman leading its new AI research team – https://www.geekwire.com/2023/microsoft-emerges-victorious-from-openai-meltdown-with-sam-altman-leading-its-new-ai-research-lab/

Satya Nadella Hires Sam Altman, Fired CEO Of ?ChatGPT Developer - https://indiawest.com/satya-nadella-hires-sam-altman-fired-ceo-of-chatgpt-developer/

Microsoft hits record high after hiring former OpenAI boss Sam Altman - https://www.businessinsider.in/investment/news/microsoft-is-on-pace-to-add-nearly-50-billion-worth-of-market-cap-after-hiring-former-openai-boss-sam-altman/articleshow/105361683.cms

Former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman to Lead New AI Research Team at Microsoft,?Satya Nadella Confirms - https://www.equitypandit.com/former-openai-ceo-sam-altman-to-lead-new-ai-research-team-at-microsoft-satya-nadella-confirms/

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