zlacker

So the board fired the CEO and appointed a new one. The new CEO now wants to hire the old CEO back but now the board doesn’t want either of them to be CEO and is trying to find a totally new CEO. What a friggin’ mess.

>>JCM9+(OP)
Complete clown show by Ilya, Helen, Adam, and Tasha.

>>peyton+6
How would you have done it?

>>JCM9+(OP)
She is interim CEO, meaning that her job is to hire new CEO. And she is not hiring the old CEO into CEO role.

Edit: Not to choose the CEO but do the practical things

>>nicce+c
To the contrary, I would prefer to interpret the article's wording as saying she's working on rehiring Sam and Greg into their old positions, presumably directly against the board's wishes.

>>peyton+6
You're assuming this story is legit. Anonymous sources have been all over the place, seeding the idea that that Sam will return; the board hasn't responded. Maybe it's as big a mess on the board's side as you say. Maybe Sam's supporters are trying to create a dominant narrative that becomes self-fulfilling.

>>peyton+6
They're going to be helming a ghost company soon. Good job; great effort.

They're never going to get the funding they need after this clown show. Nobody is going to give them $$$ without seriously restructuring the board.

>>EMIREL+a
Done what? A competent board would not do this.

>>EMIREL+a
To be frank, isn't it weird to appoint an interim CEO who sides with the person you ousted? Why not have appointed someone more sympathetic to your position?

>>acyou+s
From the article:

> in a capacity that has yet to be finalized

Very hard to say.

>>fatbir+I
I’m not assuming anything. It’s been a clown show since the press release smearing the outgoing executive.

>>nicce+c
No it is the board’s job to hire the new ceo. The interim ceo is supposed to run the company.

>>JCM9+(OP)
> The new CEO now wants to hire the old CEO back

The article says “in a capacity that has yet to be finalized” - so this might be not as significant.

> but now the board doesn’t want either of them to be CEO and is trying to find a totally new CEO

That part is not unexpected - they announced an interim CEO after all.

Additionally there are no sources and the article is based on hearsay. For all we know this might be clickbait.

>>nicce+c
It's the board's job to hire the new CEO. The interim CEO runs the company until a permanent CEO is found.

The interim CEO can hire people below her (advisers, other C-suite execs) but has no authority to hire the permanent CEO.

>>peyton+T
You're assuming the smears aren't deserved :)

More anonymous voices have pointed out that Sam was effectively laying the groundwork for one or two more AI startups based on the work OpenAI was doing, without informing the board, and in contravention of the way OpenAI was deliberately structured to restrain unfettered AI profit-seeking. But again, anonymous voices. And in the background, Sam's sister making very dire accusations against him.

There's a whole lot of smoke, but I have no clue where the fire is, and I'm sceptical of everyone now, especially Sam Altman because his image is so shiny that it feels like a professional effort.

>>peyton+T
Could you please stop posting unsubstantive comments and flamebait? You've unfortunately been doing it repeatedly. It's not what this site is for, and destroys what it is for.

If you wouldn't mind reviewing https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html and taking the intended spirit of the site more to heart, we'd be grateful.

You've been on HN for many years and we're certainly glad to have you - we just need comments to be more thoughtful/substantive and a little less reactive. I hope that makes sense.

>>peyton+O
Suppose there's an unfixable conflict of interest/vision between Altman and the board, what would you have done if you were in the board's shoes?