OpenAI's Ctrl+Z on Sam Altman: Firing, rehiring and all the drama around AI startup

November 17: OpenAI CEO Sam Altman fired and President Greg Brockman removed from board.

November 17: CTO Mira Murati appointed interim CEO. November 18: OpenAI investors urge board to reverse decision as many executives threaten to quit.

November 19: Murati invites Altman to OpenAI HQ to discuss possible return. Twitch boss Emmett Shear replaces Murati as interim CEO after talks fail.

November 20: OpenAI mulls merger with Google-backed Anthropic with its CEO Dario Amodei as new chief.

November 21: Satya Nadella reveals Altman and Brockman will lead a new AI research team at Microsoft. Board member Ilya Sutskever 'regrets' firing Altman.

November 22: Sam Altman returns as OpenAI CEO; an initial board set up to appoint a formal board that might comprise Altman, Brockman and a Microsoft representative.