Microsoft was ready to welcome a wave of OpenAI employees who would have joined the company had Sam Altman not gone back to OpenAI as CEO. In doing so, it had prepared itself with office infrastructure, computing devices–including Apple MacBooks, and more.
As per CNBC and Axios, this came after hundreds of OpenAI employees signed a letter demanding OpenAI’s board to be dissolved (which eventually happened) or they would follow Altman to Microsoft.
You might be wondering why Microsoft would give out MacBooks as onboarding kits instead of its own Windows-powered Surface computers. The answer is simple: Microsoft is a software-first company, and it makes software for a wide range of platforms, including MacOS and iOS. To develop for Mac, you need a Mac. And since OpenAI’s apps are multi-platform, Microsoft could have been happy providing Macs to OpenAI employees.
In general, the type of laptop or equipment kit you get during onboarding depends on which team you join. So, some people might get Windows-based computers, while others might get rival Apple’s MacBooks.
With that said, Kevin Scott, Microsoft’s CTO, openly talked about matching the compensation OpenAI employees were getting, potentially trying to persuade them.
Axios also reported that Microsoft was setting up a space for OpenAI employees at LinkedIn’s (Microsoft-owned) San Francisco office, which is minutes away from OpenAI’s main facility. But none of this happened as Sam Altman, along with Greg Brockman, made his move back to OpenAI.
But evidently nothing of this sort happened as OpenAI’s old board got dissolved, and Sam Altman, along with Greg Brockman made their return to the company.
“We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo. We are collaborating to figure out the details. Thank you so much for your patience through this,” OpenAI said on X (formerly Twitter).
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