But in a way what you said might be true too, these guys are just pieces of a bigger puzzle. Other actors above them with more capital, are making the calls.

legxxi

Come to think about it, they kill two possible competitors with one shot. Sam becomes an employee (he doesn’t start a new super cool AI company) and OpenAI loses traction, leadership.

I doubt that. He hasn't been a coder for at least 10 years now. Sama is definitely a valuable human resource to have but not valuable enough to orchestrate all that. But taking him in this opportunistic situation does make sense however.

zuspotirko

Microsoft hires former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman

So maybe Microsoft orchestrated the whole thing in order to have him just as an employee instead of risking him create his own company, while at the same time having OpenAI on a leash.