Sunday November 2023
SAM ALTMAN
can I come in?
MIRA MURATI
They don’t want you to.
The screen glowed against the darkness of the room.
Two days since the Google Meet.
Four board members stared back at him through a screen. A barrier between Sam Altman and the company he built.
Since then, silence had become impossible.
His phone vibrated endlessly in his hand. Notifications synchronized across the devices surrounding him. Messages. Headlines. Speculation.
OpenAI had announced Friday afternoon that Sam Altman would step down as CEO.
Fired.
His limbs vibrated with the need to keep moving.
He typed.
Microsoft needed an answer. His fingers moved across the screen, firing off messages two at a time. Willing to step down. Willing to come in. Resolve it.
The jumping bubbles appeared.
They’re convinced.
Someone else would take his place.
He needed an answer.
Another notification.
Mira sat alone in the boardroom now.
Waiting for their decision.
No. Not like this.
A petition began circulating internally. Signatures stacking one after another. Employees threatening to leave. Follow him to Microsoft.
Murati shut him down quickly. The board would not care if employees rallied together.
Across social media, public perception had already begun to shift.
Sam Altman had lost the battle.
A new man would take the title.
No. Not like this.
Microsoft remained the board’s largest problem.
Satya Nadella had not stepped away from the situation.
By Monday morning, over ninety-five percent of OpenAI employees would sign the petition.
The board, now trapped inside their own choreographed corporate horror film. Roles reversed. The board became the prey. Hostages to the company collapsing beneath them.
He sent another message.
SAM ALTMAN
also does adam know you rehired me
