78% of dealmakers say Sam Altman should be running OpenAI right now

Whatever you think of Sam Altman’s ouster-then-return to and from OpenAI, you can’t deny it was Shakespearean. A standoff between warring factions, entwining plot lines, and, at the center, a person who has power that’s hard to take away: “There is no fettering of authority,” the Bard writes in All’s Well That Ends Well.

Altman’s influence now is undeniable–but that doesn’t mean he’s not uncontroversial. It was the question “Should Sam Altman be running OpenAI?” that elicited some of the most visceral responses in Semaphore’s 16th annual confidence survey of private equity, venture capital, hedge fund, and other professionals. (Semaphore is a firm that takes over troubled private equity, venture capital, and hedge funds on behalf of limited partners.)

About 78% of more than 1,400 respondents (marking record-high participation) said that, yes, Altman should be running OpenAI.

The striking thing about the question, brainstormed by my colleague Jessica Mathews, is that it’s successfully about the past, present, and future. Should Altman have been initially fired? Should he have been subsequently re-hired? And should he specifically be leading the charge into our AI future?

Though most of you believe strongly in Altman, reader comments were fervent in both directions.

Here are a few other highlights from this year’s Sempahore survey, which looks to measure how dealmakers are thinking (and feeling) about the industry:

–40% of respondents had confidence in the U.S. national economy with 19% not confident

–12% of respondents had confidence in the international economy with 40% not confident

–82% of respondents have confidence in themselves with 1% not confident

–68% of respondents said that sexual misconduct, harassment, and gender bias are a problem in our industry, while 32% said it’s not

–51% of respondents said that structural racism is an inherent problem in our industry, while 49% said it’s not

PE earnings season…It’s a big week of private equity earnings. On Tuesday, KKR beat on the top and bottom lines, as the overall market and the firm’s fee-related earnings climbed. On Wednesday, Carlyle beat analysts’ expectations, sending shares climbing as much as 9%. Apollo’s reporting today before the bell.

One last thing…Fortune’s Leadership Next podcast just dropped a new episode with Sequoia senior steward Roelof Botha, in which he talks extensively about AI, the state of VC, and why VC “is not an asset class.” On that point, a quote for the interested: “There’s too much money in the venture capital industry. It is not an asset class. So it’s clearly affected us because there was a period in 2021 where…everybody thought it was easy to make money in venture capital, and it’s not.” You can listen here.

See you tomorrow,

Allie Garfinkle
Twitter: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@fortune.com
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This story was originally featured on Fortune.com