It really does feel like that. Like it’s mutually beneficial for Sam and MSFT to team up in the short term while Sam figures out his next move and MSFT tries to keep OpenAI afloat for the time being
Researchers can not be 'AI visionaries', almost by definition, as you focus on depth instead of breadth as a competent researcher.
Someone like Sam Altman is indeed more of a visionary than every hardcore AI researcher. The job here is to not push the boundaries of science, it is to figure out and predict the cascading effects of a new invention.
Weird situation for him.