Worldcoin (WLD) Price Jumps as Sam Altman Returns to OpenAI

Formerly ousted OpenAI chief executive Sam Altman will return to head the company, according to an announcement from the artificial intelligence firm.

Moreover, the move has sparked a flurry of trading activity for his co-founded Worldcoin project as WLD prices pump. On November 22, OpenAI announced that they had “reached an agreement in principle for Sam Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO.”

Altman Back at the Helm

The firm behind the popular ChatGPT AI bot added that there will also be a new initial board of Bret Taylor as Chairman, Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo. “We are collaborating to figure out the details,” it added. 

In a post on X following the announcement, Altman said, “I love OpenAI, and everything I’ve done over the past few days has been in service of keeping this team and its mission together.”

He added that when he decided to join Microsoft on Sunday, “it was clear that was the best path for me and the team.” 

“With the new board and with Satya’s [Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella] support, I’m looking forward to returning to OpenAI, and building on our strong partnership with Microsoft.” 

The announcement brings an end to days of chaos for the AI industry. 

Read more: How Will Artificial Intelligence (AI) Transform Crypto?

Sam Altman was ousted as CEO of the AI firm on November 17, sending ripples throughout the embryonic industry. 

A key factor in Altman’s departure was tensions between himself and members of the original board. Altman wanted to push AI development more aggressively, whereas the board wanted greater caution, according to reports. 

Microsoft, which has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI and has rights to its technology, quickly hired Altman after he was fired. 

However, hundreds of OpenAI employees threatened to leave, potentially for Microsoft, if the board didn’t resign and reinstate Altman as CEO.

Worldcoin (WLD) Price Reaction 

Worldcoin prices have reacted strongly to Altman’s return to OpenAI. Over the past few hours, WLD has jumped 13% from $2.20 to around $2.50, where it currently trades. 

The token went for a wild ride over the weekend, dropping as low as $1.84 following the news of Altman’s ouster.

WLD is up 36% over the past fortnight but remains down 24% from its July all-time high of $3.30.

Sam Altman co-founded Worldcoin, the retina scanning World ID project which launched in July.