This piece breaks down The New Yorker’s 18,000-word deep dive into Sam Altman’s trust issues and OpenAI’s turbulent history—from his firing and secret “shadow board” deal to safety disputes and the botched investigation into his conduct. It highlights key conflicts with Musk, Dario Amodei, Microsoft’s unauthorized India release, and a fleeting “sell to Putin” brainstorm.

• Sutskever compiled seventy pages of vanishing Slack messages to justify firing Altman and Brockman, but much of that evidence was kept hidden from the public.
• The Summers/Taylor investigation into Altman's conduct never produced a written report, leaving insiders still pushing for a real probe.
• Microsoft quietly inserted a merger veto into OpenAI's charter, killing the "merge-and-assist" safety clause Amodei had fought for—he only found out at the last minute, contributing to his and Daniela's 2020 exit to found Anthropic.
• Altman denied key details reporters uncovered, including the informal "shadow board" pact with Brockman and Sutskever, despite responding to deception allegations with "I can't change my personality."

This article breaks down The New Yorker’s 18,000-word exposé on Sam Altman and OpenAI, detailing boardroom coups, safety disputes, secret pacts, and clashes with Musk, Amodei, and others. It then covers OpenAI’s policy “new deal” proposal and their acquisition of TBPN.

• Sutskever compiled seventy pages of Slack messages before Altman's firing, arguing he and Brockman shouldn't lead the company
• Musk, Altman, and Brockman had a secret pact that Altman would step down if both Brockman and Sutskever asked—Musk allegedly broke it by building a shadow leadership team
• A merger-blocking clause was quietly inserted into OpenAI's charter during Microsoft's investment, contradicting a "merge-and-assist" safety provision Amodei had demanded—Altman denied its existence until forced to read it aloud
• Summers and Taylor's promised investigation into Altman was narrowed to only assess criminality, produced no public report, and cleared him without most board members ever seeing a briefing