I never said he was "truly independent" nor meant to imply it.
Nonetheless it looks like he was both willing and able to push back on a good deal of the AI stupidity raining down from above and then he was removed and then, well, this...
You said he was independent, I didn't include "truly" intending to make a distinction there. How could one be an independent CEO while reporting to a VP who reports to another CEO?
I don't personally know him and wouldn't begin to assume on what, or how, he pushed back. Though Microsoft had AI in the GitHub org well before the leadership change - the AI leader now in charge of GitHub was previously in charge of an AI org that was moved over in the org chart to dotted line report as embedded employees, or whatever they would have been called.
Nonetheless it looks like he was both willing and able to push back on a good deal of the AI stupidity raining down from above and then he was removed and then, well, this...