Helen Toner, one of OpenAI’s former board members who was responsible for firing CEO Sam Altman last year, revealed that the company’s board was unaware of the launch of ChatGPT until its release in November 2022.[The] The board was not informed of this in advance,” Toner said in a podcast called Tuesday The Ted AI Show. “We found out about ChatGPT on Twitter.”
Toners comments It comes just two days after criticizing the management of OpenAI Economist part has been published on Sunday, he co-wrote with another former OpenAI board member, Tasha McCauley. For the first time, Toner has spoken publicly about the circumstances that led to Altman’s condition dramatic expulsion From the company he co-founded in 2015 and his quick recovery after protests by employees.
In the podcast, Toner, now director of strategy at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technologies, said Altman made it difficult for the OpenAI board to do its job by hiding information, misrepresenting things, and “in some cases.” cases lie directly to the board.” He added that Altman also hid the company’s ownership structure from the board. Toner said, “Sam constantly claimed to be an independent board member with no financial interest in the company, but he told the board that he owned the OpenAI startup fund. Altman’s actions “really undermined our ability to trust him,” he said, and by October 2023, the board was “talking pretty seriously about whether we should fire him anyway.”
He criticized Altman’s handling of AI-related security issues, saying he often gave the board inaccurate information about the company’s security processes, “which means the board doesn’t know how well those security processes are working or it was generally impossible for him to know what needed to be changed. .”
When asked for comment, an OpenAI spokesperson referred Engadget to a statement from the company TED AI Show. “We are disappointed that Ms. Toner continues to revisit these issues,” said Bret Taylor, the current head of OpenAI’s board and CEO of Salesforce. An independent investigation into Altman’s firing, he added, “concluded that the previous board’s decision was not based on the safety or security of the product, the pace of development, OpenAI’s finances, or disclosures to investors, customers or business partners.”
These were the exact reasons for Altman’s sudden ouster last year still unclear and has been a source of intense speculation in Silicon Valley. In March, a group of interim board members that included Altman, Taylor, economist Larry Summers, OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, Instacart CEO and former Meta executive Fiji Simo, former Sony executive Nicole Seligman, and ex-CEO was reinstated to the board. Dr. Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation. Sue Desmond-Hellmann. one independent research, law firm WilmerHale found that Toner’s decision to fire Altman, along with the rest of OpenAI’s previous Board of Directors, “was the result of a breakdown in the relationship and loss of trust between the previous Board and Mr. Altman.” WilmerHale also found that OpenAI’s previous board fired Altman “abruptly” and without giving him a chance to respond to his concerns.
Toner’s revelations are the latest controversy involving OpenAI, the company fueling the modern artificial intelligence revolution. In the past few days, many security researchers have left the company. criticizes openly his leadership on the way out. OpenAI has also backed away from non-disparagement agreements, which it requires departing employees to sign after a period of time. Vox investigationand the actor was forced to explain himself after Scarlet Johansson accused the company Copies his voice for ChatGPT even though he doesn’t allow it.
