OpenAI engineers are making as much as $800,000 and were key in Altman's return to the AI startup.

Microsoft will have a role on OpenAI’s new board as the artificial intelligence start-up aims to strengthen its corporate governance following a week of chaos in which five out of six of its directors, including chief executive Sam Altman, were ousted or quit.

One week after he was fired, Altman was restored as CEO of the leading artificial intelligence technology company as a result of a staff revolt, combined with the intervention of Microsoft Corporation and other powerful sections of the ruling class.

OpenAI reached a deal to have Mr Altman back as the company’s chief executive, just days after it abruptly fired him. Mr Altman said he was looking forward to returning to OpenAI with the support of Microsoft chief Satya Nadella.

Altman says tech giant, which owns 49% of ChatGPT maker after investing $13bn, will take non-voting, observer position on board

In an internal memo, Sam Altman expressed no animosity towards Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s co-founder and chief scientist, who played a pivotal role in Altman's earlier removal.