Satya Nadella's Move To Hire Sam Altman Wins Universal Praise And Some 'Revenge Of Clippy' Humor

Microsoft Corp. CEO Satya Nadella might have just made the hiring of his lifetime by scooping up OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman and former president Greg Brockman.

This has sparked universal praise and awe for the Microsoft chief, and some users have also posted hilarious memes.

What Happened: Nadella's quick decision to scoop up Altman, Brockman, and their former OpenAI colleagues to lead a new advanced AI research team at Microsoft is widely regarded as a masterstroke.

See Also: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman To Lead A New Advanced AI Research Team At Microsoft

Aaron Levie, co-founder and CEO of Box Inc. BOX, who has been vocal about his support for Altman since the news of his firing was made public, praised Nadella.

"Incredible execution by Satya in one of the most dynamic situations in tech history," he said.

Incredible execution by Satya in one of the most dynamic situations in tech history. https://t.co/8TwtJnSWRt

— Aaron Levie (@levie) November 20, 2023

Nadella also won praise for being nimble and responding to new developments

Balaji Srinivasan, former CTO of Coinbase and a former partner at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz praised Nadella for thinking like a startup CEO.

"Satya wins. Reflexes of a startup CEO. Resources of a trillion-dollar company. Pulls this together in 48 hours from a cold start. Gets it signed and over the line, before markets open," he said.

Satya wins.
Reflexes of a startup CEO.
Resources of a trillion dollar company.
Pulls this together in 48 hours from a cold start.
Gets it signed and over the line before markets open. pic.twitter.com/oI3IUvd2Zp

— Balaji (@balajis) November 20, 2023

Elon Musk, founder of xAI and also a fellow co-founder of OpenAI, couldn't resist joining in on the fun, either. He posted a cheeky response to Nadella's post, saying, "Now they will have to use Teams!"

Now they will have to use Teams!

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 20, 2023

The context is that Altman and Brockman were fired over a Google Meet call. This is despite Microsoft owning a 49% stake in OpenAI and also being its single largest investor.

Musk also sparked a stream of "Revenge of Clippy" memes.

Microsoft Clippy might paperclip us all!

"Revenge of Clippy" is the irony maximizing outcome.

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) November 20, 2023

Ross Nordeen, Musk's colleague at xAI, also joined in on the Clippy memes.

revenge of clippy coming faster then expected https://t.co/2AO3XbbqgQ

— Ross (@rpoo) November 20, 2023

Other users said Nadella's decision gives them Don Corleone's vibes from the iconic film The Godfather.

full on Don Corleone vibess https://t.co/ruF1GlQ1Gw pic.twitter.com/E1Riw1annO

— sam altpHan (@pHequals7) November 20, 2023

Others compared Nadella's decision to something that Damian Lewis' character, Bobby Axelrod, would pull off in the TV drama Billions.

Satya is a baller man. What a move 🙌 https://t.co/weAGGR6zn9 pic.twitter.com/Fo9XGq0Xze

— Asif Ahmed (@comedy_engineer) November 20, 2023

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