Board members of OpenAI, the company that has finally come to the shores from amidst boardroom turmoil by reinstating Sam Altman to the CEO post, has rejigged its entire board. Interestingly, only one person from the earlier board has been retained while all others were replaced. CEO’s return in addition to changes in the board came after hundreds of employees at the company threatened to quit and follow Atlman to Microsoft, the tech giant which briefly poached Altman following his brief ouster from OpenAI.
The newly constituted board has strengthened Altman’s position at OpenAI, as per media reports. CEO of question-and-answer site Quora Adam D’Angelo is the only member who has been retained while the others have been replaced.
Others who joined the OpenAI board include ex-Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor and former US Treasury Secretary and president of Harvard University Larry Summers.
Summers is a seasoned economist who has often commented on the dangers of AI. “ChatGPT is gonna replace what doctors do, hearing symptoms and making diagnoses, before it changes what nurses do,” Summers told Bloomberg News earlier this year.
Altman and Open AI co-founder Greg Brockman will not be returned to the board. The board might have six additional members, the Wall Street Journal reported.
Warning letter
Additionally, researchers at OpenAI had reportedly issued a warning letter to the board of directors raising a red flag over the possible AI discovery which is believed to threaten humanity, Reuters reported citing two anonymous sources familiar with the matter. This revelation was made before Sam Altman was fired from CEO position.
The alleged letter is touted as one of the reasons which led to Altman’s sacking. This comes amid apprehensions at the firm over the commercialising advances before understanding the consequences of the algorithm.
The concerns were allegedly around a new project named Q*. The ChatGPT maker also confirmed that a message was sent to the employees by Mira Murati, an OpenAI executive who was briefly appointed by the company as the interim CEO. The message informed employees about certain media stories without commenting on their accuracy, Reuters reported.
(With inputs from agencies)
