>her view and ruining the lives of so many people.

..and had Altman just accepted he was fired and walked away, OpenAI would have just looked bruised and not like the broken state it does now...

I don't think the current state for the employees is just on her. It's the result of both sides fighting for governance and willing to see the organization disabled if their side loses.

I really don't know the full story here, but I will note that when women in power do their job, their actions are frequently interpreted in an ugly and uncharitable way that men are less likely to get.

They get characterized as "bossy", like it's an ugly personality trait, and not like they are the boss and it's their job to do something about a thing.

Who's life has been ruined? Did I miss something?

Ask the labour class at OpenAI. They are not in the privileged position the capital class on the board find themselves in.

As an academic, we can be fairly certain that Helen makes way less money than top AI talent

It all smacks of someone given the power to do something who then has to do that something, even if it is on a pretext. Power is best exercised by restraint, not by action, until there is no other way.