In a move with Microsoft’s name all over it, OpenAI agreed to reconstitute the board of directors that had dismissed him. Former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor and former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers will join Quora CEO and current director Adam D'Angelo, OpenAI said.

Under an "agreement in principle," Altman will serve under the supervision of a new board of directors.

Altman wrote on the social media site X in response to the announcement. "I love OpenAI, and everything I've done over the past few days has been in service of keeping this team and its mission together. When I decided to join Microsoft on Sunday evening, it was clear that was the best path for me and the team." Microsoft chief Satya Nadella hired Altman after he was sacked.

Altman said that with the "support" of the new OpenAI board and Nadella, he looked forward to "returning to OpenAI and building on our strong partnership with Microsoft."

Nadella said he was "encouraged by the changes to the OpenAI board" and believed the decision was the "first essential step to a path to more stable, well-informed, and effective governance."

Meanwhile, former staffers have sent an open letter to Elon [look at me] Musk claiming that Altman had been progressively moving the company away from its open source roots.

Musk, who walked away from OpenAI because he found the tech too dangerous, has formed his own company now that others are making a lot of money from it.

He claimed the letter from employees was worthy of an inquiry.