OpenAI’s employees were given two explanations for why Sam Altman was fired. They’re unconvinced and furious.

• During a meeting with employees, OpenAI’s Ilya Sustkever offered two explanations for the ousting of CEO Sam Altman.
• The explanations involved statements he made to the board regarding personnel.
• Employees didn’t buy these reasons. Most of the company is now prepared to quit.

The current independent board of OpenAI has provided two examples of the alleged lack of candor that led to the firing of co-founder and CEO Sam Altman, resulting in the company’s demise.

Late Sunday night, Ilya Sutskever introduced to the staff Emmett Shear, the former Twitch CEO, who was named OpenAI’s new interim CEO, succeeding Mira Murati, who had replaced Altman on Friday. According to a person familiar with the company and the events of Sunday, the brief meeting was held at one of OpenAI’s San Francisco offices, and only a few of the company’s employees attended. The remaining employees effectively staged a walkout. The meeting was also reported to have taken place by The Verge.

Staff had spent the day anticipating the announcement of Altman’s reinstatement as CEO. Another person familiar with the situation said that over a 30-minute period on Sunday night, staff were told internally that Altman was returning, then that he wasn’t, and then that Shear had been appointed. The individuals requested anonymity because they are not authorized to discuss internal matters. Business Insider is aware of their identities.

When Shear’s appointment was announced, most employees reacted “extremely poorly,” according to one source. It was yet another surprise for employees who had been on pins and needles all weekend.

Sutskever, the chief scientist and co-founder who helped vote Altman out and fired him over Google Meet, was left to deliver the news of Shear’s arrival. Sutskever appeared “subdued” during the meeting, according to one of the attendees.

Staff and tech industry observers had been wondering for days what was behind OpenAI’s harshly worded statement that Altman “was not consistently candid in his communications with the board.”

According to one of those familiar, Sustkever is said to have offered two explanations he allegedly received from the board. One explanation was that Altman was said to have assigned the same project to two different people at OpenAI.

The other charge was that Altman allegedly gave two board members opposing views on a member of personnel. A spokesperson for OpenAI did not respond to requests for comment.

According to one person familiar with the situation, these explanations did not make sense to employees and were not well received. Internally, the prevailing theory is that this was a simple “coup” by the board, as it has been dubbed both inside and outside the company. According to the person, any reason given by the board now has little to no sway with staff.

A few hours after that meeting, an open letter was drafted, circulated among staff overnight, and signed by OpenAI leadership, including Murati and Sutskever, protesting the board’s decision not to rehire Altman. According to the most recent count, it had been signed by more than 90% of the employees by midday Monday.

Employees stated in the letter that they would resign if the remaining board members did not resign, if new board members were not appointed, and if Altman was not returned to the company.

Altman is currently negotiating a possible return while serving as an interim executive at Microsoft, a position orchestrated by CEO Satya Nadella. Microsoft is OpenAI’s largest investor, having invested at least $10 billion in the company.

“People are enraged, and a mass exodus is imminent,” one source familiar with the situation said.

The current board of directors includes Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo, tech entrepreneur Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner of the Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology, and Setskever. Although Sutskever signed the open letter threatening to leave the company, he is still said to be a member of the board of directors. Altman and OpenAI’s president, Greg Brockman, were previously on the board.

Although Murati sparked outrage among many employees shortly after Altman’s dismissal, given that she was his initial replacement and was said to have known he was being fired the day before, that sentiment has since subsided.

People close to her claim that she “deferred” to Sutskever constantly in the aftermath of Friday. Now that she has decided to leave the company if Altman does not return, along with Sutskever, who has publicly expressed his “regret” for his role in the board’s decision against Altman, some are wondering if all of these top players will be able to continue working with the OpenAI team and leadership elsewhere. Others, on the other hand, believe Sutskever will not be easily forgiven and will not be invited to stay or join a new venture at Microsoft.