THE SCENE Sam Altman’s return as CEO of OpenAI caps a chaotic five-day period for the world’s hottest startup, but still leaves questions about what really led to his firing and whether the company can recover. OpenAI said Tuesday that it has “reached an agreement in principle” for Altman to return to his role, and overhauled the board that ousted him on Friday. The new directors are former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor, who will be chair of the board, ex-Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, and Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, the only member to stay on. It appears that two other directors, Helen Toner and Tasha McCauley, who both have ties to the effective altruism movement, are no longer in those roles. They were part of the board that said last week that Altman had not been “consistently candid in his communications’ with directors, without providing further details. They stuck by that view this past weekend, when talks to bring Altman back collapsed. He has agreed to an internal investigation into the board’s allegations, The Information reported. “We are collaborating to figure out the details,” OpenAI said in announcing the deal with Altman. “Thank you so much for your patience through this.”  Reuters/Benoit TessierREED’S VIEW The real winners late Tuesday night were investors in OpenAI. Some of the most powerful people in Silicon Valley stood to lose a lot of money (at least on paper) if OpenAI collapsed. With Altman back, that investment appears to have been saved. Or has it? Altman himself is no longer on the board. We don’t know what the internal investigation is investigating. And Altman, in some ways, seems possibly more vulnerable than before he was fired. If the probe turns something up, the board could oust him again, though Altman now has more allies. If it clears him, it’s possible he could move back onto the board. For now, that uncertainty raises another important question about employee compensation. Before Altman’s ouster, the company was planning a tender offer that would enable longtime staff to sell their OpenAI shares for a windfall profit, with the startup valued north of $80 billion. The sources I talked to think investors may now blink at those lofty valuations after what’s gone on over the past several days. OpenAI was so far ahead of the competition that financial backers and partners overlooked its unusual structure. They won’t anymore. And there are still so many questions about D’Angelo’s role in all of this. He’s still on the board, which may have been a compromise in the deal. One question for him is why this internal investigation is happening now, instead of before Altman was fired. For some reason, the board decided to rush this decision, suggesting there was some time-sensitive need to do it right then. What was it? All of this drama has to be encouraging to rivals. At the very least, when companies are competing for AI talent, this will make a great talking point for recruiters: We’re like OpenAI, but drama-free. There could be knock-on effects that have an even bigger impact. OpenAI needs capital to survive. The next models will be even more expensive to train and, probably, to run. In the easy money, low-interest era of tech investing, OpenAI would have had no problem. Worst comes to worst, just ask SoftBank for a few billion. But these are leaner times and investors are more discerning. I’m not saying OpenAI won’t be able to raise money. It still has the best technology in an industry that is about to upend every other industry. Although, if Altman is ever ousted for good, that could change. So investors may want to wait for the results of the internal investigation. And then there’s Microsoft. On Sunday night, it appeared Microsoft was going to get Altman, OpenAI President Greg Brockman, and a large chunk of the startup’s staff while still retaining the exclusive rights to OpenAI’s IP. That would have been an amazing coup. This result isn’t bad, either. Microsoft didn’t get a board seat, but it still gets OpenAI’s technology. And OpenAI is more dependent on Microsoft now because of the software giant’s compute infrastructure. And if OpenAI can’t raise as much money, Microsoft holds a lot of cards. | 
