Microsoft-OpenAI ties shows signs of fraying due to concerns over stability

Last fall, Sam Altman, OpenAI’s chief executive, asked his counterpart at Microsoft, Satya Nadella, if the tech giant would invest billions of dollars in the start-up.

Microsoft had already pumped $13 billion into OpenAI, and Nadella was initially willing to keep the cash spigot flowing. But after OpenAI’s board of directors briefly ousted Altman last November, Nadella and Microsoft reconsidered, according to four people familiar with the talks who spoke on the condition of anonymity.