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Staff at OpenAI have called on the board of the company to resign after the shock dismissal of former boss Sam Altman.
In a letter, they question the board's competence, and accuse it of undermining the firm's work.
They also demand Mr Altman's reinstatement.
The sacking on Friday of a man who is one of the leading figures in artificial intelligence (AI), shocked the tech world.
The letter's many signatories, who include senior staff, say they may themselves resign if their demands are not met. They also state that Microsoft has assured them that there are jobs for all OpenAI staff if they want to join the company.
OpenAI's chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever, has put his name to the letter, despite being a member of the board which now finds itself under fire.
Writing on X, formerly Twitter, he said that he had made a mistake.
"Now I deeply regret my participation in the board's actions. I never intended to harm OpenAI. I love everything we've built together and I will do everything I can to reunite the company", he posted.
In a fast moving and chaotic series of events over the weekend it seemed briefly that Mr Altman might get his job back, only for it to be announced he was joining Microsoft, a major funder of OpenAI.
Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella wrote on X, that Mr Altman would be leading "a new advanced AI research team".
Responding to the post confirming his new job, but before the letter was published, Mr Altman wrote "the mission continues".
Meanwhile, ex-Twitch CEO Emmett Shear will become OpenAI's new interim boss.
Writing on X, he called the job a "once-in-a-lifetime opportunity".
But he added the way Mr Altman had been sacked was "handled very badly" and "seriously damaged our trust".
Mr Altman, 38, helped launch the firm - best known for creating the popular ChatGPT bot - and has become one of the most influential figures in the fast-growing generative artificial intelligence (AI) space.
The sacking of such a high profile figure surprised industry watchers, and angered many in the company he'd led - culminating in them demanding the board members resign.
