A new interim chief executive has been appointed to the company behind major AI chatbot ChatGPT, as the OpenAI board said it stood by its decision to fire Sam Altman.

Mr Altman, the founder of OpenAI and former CEO, was fired in a shock announcement on Friday, as the not-for-profit company board said Mr Altman “was not consistently candid in his communications with the board”.

The detail behind the alleged lack of candour was not published and the true reason for the sacking remains unclear.

There had been speculation that Mr Altman could return to the company after he posted a photo of himself wearing an OpenAI guest pass on social media platform X.

But according to a New York Times report based on a company memo on Monday, the board stood by the firing.

Emmett Shear, who was chief executive at Amazon’s streaming platform Twitch, has been appointed as the new interim CEO at OpenAI.

He replaces Mira Murati, OpenAI’s chief technology officer, who was put in place as interim chief executive on Friday.

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According to online technology website The Information, dozens of staff quit after OpenAI’s chief scientist Ilya Sutskever announced Mr Altman would not be returning.

The Information report said Mr Sutskever told OpenAI staff Mr Altman’s behaviour and board interactions had undermined the company’s ability to supervise artificial intelligence development.

The departure of Mr Altman on Friday led to the resignation of OpenAI president, Greg Brockman, in support.

“Sam [Altman] and I are shocked and saddened by what the board did today,” Mr Brockman posted on social media.

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Mr Altman said of his departure: “Today was a weird experience in many ways.

“But one unexpected one is that it has been sorta like reading your own eulogy while you’re still alive. The outpouring of love is awesome.”

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