Months after Microsoft gained an observer seat on OpenAI's board, the company has decided to relinquish its non-voting position.

In a letter sent to OpenAI on Tuesday, Microsoft expressed confidence in the AI company's progress and direction, as reported by Axios.

Following this change, OpenAI announced that it would no longer have any observers on its board, effectively ruling out the possibility of Apple obtaining an observer seat. “We’re grateful to Microsoft for voicing confidence in the Board and the direction of the company, and we look forward to continuing our successful partnership,” OpenAI stated in a message to TechCrunch.

“Under the leadership of CFO Sarah Friar, we are establishing a new approach to informing and engaging key strategic partners such as Microsoft and Apple, as well as investors like Thrive Capital and Khosla Ventures,” the statement continued.

Microsoft initially took the observer role after the controversial firing and subsequent rehiring of Sam Altman last year, which led to a significant reshuffle of the board, with only Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo remaining. The new OpenAI board now includes former Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor, former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, Instacart CEO Fidji Simo, ex-Sony Corp EVP Nicole Seligman, former Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation CEO Sue Desmond-Hellmann, ex-NSA head Paul Nakasone, and Sam Altman, alongside D’Angelo.

Since the leadership changes at OpenAI last year, several top researchers, including Andrej Karpathy and Ilya Sutskever, have departed the company. After leaving, Sutskever founded a new AI company, Safe Superintelligence Inc., focused on enhancing AI safety.

Despite relinquishing its observer seat, Microsoft retains a 49% stake in the for-profit OpenAI, having invested nearly $13 billion. Such a partnership raises concerns about potential scrutiny from EU antitrust regulators, as highlighted by a report from Reuters in April.

Last month, Margrethe Vestager, the EU’s executive vice president for competition policy, warned that these kinds of investments should not allow Big Tech companies to exert control over other corporations. “Microsoft has invested $13 billion in OpenAI over the years. But we have to ensure that partnerships like this do not become a disguise for one partner gaining controlling influence over the other,” she stated in a speech.

Alex Haffner, a competition partner at U.K.-based firm Fladgate, suggested that Microsoft's decision may have been influenced by ongoing antitrust scrutiny regarding its investments. “It is hard not to conclude that Microsoft’s decision has been heavily influenced by the ongoing competition/antitrust scrutiny of its (and other major tech players’) influence over emerging AI players such as OpenAI,”