Back when the OpenAI board attempted and failed to fire Sam Altman, we faced a highly hostile information environment. The battle was fought largely through control of the public narrative, and the above was my attempt to put together what happened.

My conclusion, which I still believe, was that Sam Altman had engaged in a variety of unacceptable conduct that merited his firing.

In particular, he very much ‘not been consistently candid’ with the board on several important occasions. In particular, he lied to board members about what was said by other board members, with the goal of forcing out a board member he disliked. There were also other instances in which he misled and was otherwise toxic to employees, and he played fast and loose with the investment fund and other outside opportunities.

I concluded that the story that this was about ‘AI safety’ or ‘EA (effective altruism)’ or [...]

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Outline:

(01:32) The Big Picture Going Forward

(06:27) Hagey Verifies Out the Story

(08:50) Key Facts From the Story

(11:57) Dangers of False Narratives

(16:24) A Full Reference and Reading List

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March 31st, 2025

https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/25EgRNWcY6PM3fWZh/openai-12-battle-of-the-board-redux