Sam Altman isn't coming back: OpenAI's new interim CEO is Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear

Open AI has reportedly appointed former Twitch executive Emmett Shear as its new interim CEO, replacing interim CEO Mira Murati and putting an end to hopes that ousted former CEO Sam Altman would return. That's three CEOs in as many days.

Altman visited the OpenAI offices as a guest earlier today, apparently taking part in some last chance negotiations to get himself reinstated. Investors in the company have been pushing for his return, with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella getting personally involved.

"First and last time i ever wear one of these," Altman wrote on Twitter/X, captioning a selfie of himself wearing an OpenAI guest badge.

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Yet despite the support of one of OpenAI's largest investors as well as Murati, Altman has been unable to reclaim his throne. Instead, Shear will now wear the crown, supplanting Murati as interim CEO until a permanent replacement can be found. 

A Twitch co-founder, Shear resigned from his role as CEO of the Amazon-owned video streaming platform in March this year. At the time, Shear stated that he would continue at Twitch in an advisory role, but wanted to be present for his newborn son.

OpenAI announced it had fired Altman last Friday, stating that the co-founder was "not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities." The company swiftly replaced him with CTO turned interim CEO Murati.

However, Murati publicly backed Altman, and was reportedly planning to reinstate both him and former president Greg Brockman. Altman's fellow co-founder, Brockman had stepped down as chairman of the board on Friday in solidarity with the ousted CEO.

According to Bloomberg reporter Ashlee Vance, the plan had been to force OpenAI's board to fire everyone, taking the bet that it would not want to do so. Unfortunately for Altman, Murati, and Brockman, the board appears to have created a third option in Shear, finding an off ramp to their high stakes game of chicken.