The abrupt ouster of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman two weeks ago sent shockwaves through the tech world, but perhaps nowhere was the turmoil more palpable than at Microsoft, the company that had invested billions in the AI startup. According to a report in The New Yorker, Microsoft employees have privately dubbed the chaotic episode the “Turkey-Shoot Clusterfuck,” a crude but telling reference to its timing just before the Thanksgiving holiday and the sheer disarray that followed.
The nickname, while vulgar, appears to capture the bewilderment and frustration felt by many inside Microsoft, which has a multi-billion-dollar partnership with OpenAI. The exact reasons behind Altman’s firing remain publicly unknown, and even Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was reportedly left in the dark. The New Yorker, citing internal sources, reported that Nadella was literally speechless when he received a call from an unnamed OpenAI executive informing him that the board was about to fire Altman—just 20 minutes before the public announcement.
In the aftermath, Nadella reached out to Adam D’Angelo, a member of the OpenAI board, seeking an explanation. However, D’Angelo offered only a vague response, echoing the same boilerplate language given to the press: that Altman had not been “consistently candid in his communications” with the board. When pressed, D’Angelo reportedly admitted that Altman had not done anything improper but declined to elaborate further.
The New Yorker’s deep dive into the relationship between the two companies paints a picture of a board that seemed either fearful of something OpenAI was working on under Altman—possibly the Q* program, or something else entirely—or concerned that he might “go rogue,” as the article put it. The board, which has been controversially restructured following the coup, apparently expected Microsoft to go along with the decision. Instead, Microsoft chose to support Altman, even offering to rebuild his team within its own ranks.
Despite the fallout, the core question remains unanswered: why did the board fire Altman? An unnamed OpenAI executive told The New Yorker that the board has been remarkably tight-lipped about the entire affair. “Unless the board’s goal was the destruction of the entire company,” the executive said, “they seemed inexplicably devoted to making the worst possible choice every time they made a decision.”
Fallout and Uncertainty
The incident has left the future of the OpenAI-Microsoft partnership uncertain. While Microsoft has publicly reaffirmed its commitment to OpenAI, the internal turmoil has raised questions about governance and decision-making at the AI startup. The New Yorker’s sources suggest that the board’s actions were both surprising and poorly communicated, leaving even key partners like Microsoft scrambling for answers.
As the dust settles, the industry is watching closely to see how OpenAI will navigate this leadership crisis and whether the partnership with Microsoft can withstand the strain. For now, the crude nickname coined by Microsoft employees serves as a stark reminder of the chaos that unfolded behind closed doors.