OpenAI, the troubled startup behind the popular AI chatbot ChatGPT, has announced the appointment of retired U.S. Army General and former NSA director Paul Nakasone to its board of directors, claiming he will use his extensive experience in cybersecurity to protect the company’s cutting-edge technology.
Bloomberg Reports OpenAI said in a statement Thursday that General Paul Nakasone, former director of the National Security Agency (NSA) and U.S. Cyber Command, will join the company’s board of directors. General Nakasone will serve on the Safety and Security Committee, a dedicated group that makes key safety and security decisions for OpenAI.
In this illustrated photo taken in Warsaw, Poland on November 21, 2023, a portrait of former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman appears on the screen of a mobile device. According to The Verge, former OpenAI head Sam Altman has said he plans to continue leading the company after his dismissal if the two board members step down. (Photo by Jaap Arriens/NurPhoto via Getty Images)
Brett Taylor, Chairman of the OpenAI Board of Directors, emphasized the importance of Nakasone’s addition, saying, “Artificial intelligence has the potential to have a profound positive impact on people’s lives, but to realize that potential, these innovations must be built and deployed securely. Nakasone’s unparalleled experience in areas such as cybersecurity will help OpenAI achieve its mission.”
General Nakasone’s appointment follows a series of recent changes to the makeup of OpenAI’s board of directors. In March, CEO Sam Altman was reinstated to the board after an independent investigation cleared him of any wrongdoing related to his November firing. The company also added several high-profile figures to its board, including former head of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Sue Desmond-Hellman, former Sony Entertainment executive Nicole Seligman, and Instacart CEO Fiji Simo.
At the same time, OpenAI has suffered the departure of key personnel, including co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever. As Breitbart News previously reported:
In November, Sutskever joined other directors in the surprising firing of CEO Sam Altman, according to The New York Times. Altman, a tech industry figure, was reinstated five days later after the dispute was resolved. But Sutskever was reappointed to the board and never returned. In announcing his departure, OpenAI said Sutskever had been “instrumental” in the company’s progress.
Earlier this month, OpenAI employees signed an open letter about the lack of safety oversight in the AI industry.
The letter calls for a “right to raise awareness about artificial intelligence” and calls for adherence to four principles of transparency and accountability, including a clause that says companies should not force employees to sign non-disparagement agreements that would prohibit them from publicly disclosing risk-related AI issues, and a mechanism for employees to anonymously air their concerns to executives.
The employees stress the importance of their role in holding AI companies accountable to the public, given the lack of effective government oversight, and they argue that extensive non-disclosure agreements prevent them from raising concerns beyond the companies, who may be failing to address such issues.
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Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering free speech and online censorship.
