Sam Altman to return as OpenAI CEO

OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman will return to the firm as chief executive a matter of days after he was ousted by its board.

Open AI said an agreement "in principle" had been reached, an agreement which also involves former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor and former US treasury secretary Larry Summers being appointed to its board.

The announcement comes just days after Altman was shown the door on Friday, leading to an open letter from OpenAI's more than 700 staff, who threatened to resign unless he was reinstated as CEO.

"I am looking forward to returning to OpenAI," Altman said. "I love OpenAI, and everything I've done over the past few days has been in service of keeping this team and its mission together."

Altman, who was offered a job with OpenAI's biggest investor, Microsoft, added that the company would look to build upon its "strong partnership" with the tech giant.

Interim chief executive, Emmett Shear, said he was "deeply pleased" by Altman's return following what had been "72 very intense hours" of work.

Reporting by Iain Gilbert at Sharecast.com