"The mission continues," Altman, who rose to fame with the launch of the artificial intelligence chatbot last year, posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Nadella wrote on X that Altman "will be joining Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team," along with OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman and their colleagues.

OpenAI's board sacked Altman on Friday, prompting other high-profile departures from the company as well as a reported push by major investors to bring him back.

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