Potential Merger and Leadership Opportunity Discussed between OpenAI and Anthropic CEOs

Anthropic logo is seen in this illustration taken March 31, 2023. REUTERS/Dado Ruvic/Illustration Acquire Licensing Rights

According to two people familiar with the matter, OpenAI’s board of directors recently approached Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei about replacing chief Sam Altman and potentially merging the two AI startups. However, Amodei declined both options. The news comes after various reports suggesting that it was time for Altman to be replaced following his ousting by OpenAI’s board.

OpenAI declined to comment on the matter, while board member Adam D’Angelo did not immediately respond to a request for comment. On Sunday, the board offered former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear to be its interim CEO, who accepted. Meanwhile, Altman agreed to join Microsoft (MSFT.O) along with other key personnel from OpenAI. By Monday, nearly all of the startup’s more than 700 employees threatened to quit, including one of its executives on OpenAI’s now four-person board.

The co-founders of Anthropic had broken from their employer at OpenAI over disagreements regarding how to ensure AI’s safe development and governance. Anthropic has received investments from Alphabet’s (GOOGL.O) Google and Amazon (AMZN.O). Its Claude AI models have been in competition with OpenAI’s GPT series for prominence in the field of AI development and research.

Jeffrey Dastin is a correspondent for Reuters based in San Francisco, where he reports on technology and artificial intelligence. He joined Reuters in 2014 and has since reported extensively on issues related to big tech companies like Google, Facebook (FB), and Amazon (AMZN). Dastin graduated from Yale University with a degree in history and has won several awards for his work as an investigative journalist, including a SOPA Award in 2022 for his reporting on lobbying by Amazon around the world.

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