Internal Text Messages Exposed from OpenAI Coup Night: Board "Just Doesn't Want AGI in Your Hands"
Video testimony from former OpenAI CTO Mira Murati and internal text messages from the night of Altman's firing in November 2023 were revealed during the second week of the trial in Musk's lawsuit against OpenAI.
The messages show that the board verbally expressed a desire for Altman to return over the weekend, but their attitude changed drastically late Sunday night. Murati directly informed Altman: "They've decided, they just don't want you." The board had selected former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear as the successor, whom Murati privately referred to as "that unknown Twitch guy."
Altman proposed, "What if Microsoft directly acquires OpenAI?" and made several attempts to reconcile. When Altman pressed for reasons, Murati replied: "They just don't want your hand on AGI." Altman's team even suspected the board wanted to transfer OpenAI's IP to Anthropic.
Source: Public Information
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Mira Murati, as the then-CTO of OpenAI and a potential successor, played a key role in relaying messages on the night of the coup. Previously, she had maintained relative neutrality between the board and Altman, but the exposure of these texts shows her position of "watching the wind" during the events. Much of the material in Ilya Sutskever's 52-page dismissal rationale came from Murati, and she quickly left OpenAI afterward to establish Thinking Machines Lab.
On the capital front, the board's core concern was Altman's push for OpenAI to rapidly shift to profitability and deepen ties with Microsoft. The revealed acquisition proposal provides direct evidence for Musk's accusations that OpenAI violated its non-profit mission. Musk's lawsuit aims for $180 billion in damages, overturning the profit structure, and removing Altman from the board.
Similar to historical power struggles between founders and boards in Silicon Valley (like the Uber Travis Kalanick incident), OpenAI is currently in a critical litigation phase, completely severing legal ties with its early founding team as it transitions from non-profit ideals to a commercial giant.
Essentially, this is about capital concentration: the board's strategic decision to ensure "AGI cannot be in Altman's hands" allows them to reclaim control of OpenAI from its founders and shift towards a more decentralized governance structure, restructuring capital from Altman's personally driven aggressive expansion to a board-led cautious commercialization path. Mechanically, this was achieved through a sudden firing and rapid appointment of a new CEO, attempting to retain more control in the AGI era.
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The real power struggle has never been about capability, but about "not letting you control AGI." When the board was ready with a successor, the window for the founder's return had already closed. The harsh truth of Silicon Valley: the company you founded may ultimately push you out under the pretext of "not letting you continue to hold power."