Examining OpenAI's New Board Shakeup... Will Altman Become a Strong Ally?

‘The father of ChatGPT,’ Sam Altman, has returned as CEO of OpenAI, leading to a major reshuffle of the OpenAI board. Key members of the previous board who triggered the recent turmoil by dismissing Altman have stepped down, while former Salesforce co-CEO Brett Taylor and former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summers have newly joined. The new board, expected to have up to nine members, is also likely to include representatives from Microsoft (MS) alongside Altman.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

On the 22nd (local time), OpenAI announced Altman’s return as CEO via X (formerly Twitter) and confirmed an agreement to reorganize the board. The newly disclosed board list includes former CEO Taylor and former Secretary Summers. Among the previous board members, only Adam D’Angelo, CEO of Quora, remains. D’Angelo, who was one of the board members involved in Altman’s ousting, later led negotiations for Altman’s reinstatement.

The new OpenAI board is not yet finalized. According to reports from Bloomberg and other major media outlets, the final board is likely to consist of nine members. Discussions are also underway to include a representative from MS, the largest shareholder, on the board. Despite holding a 49% stake in OpenAI, MS had no voting rights in the company’s nonprofit board, which held major decision-making power. However, having gained the upper hand in the recent situation, MS is expected to join the board and exert influence over future improvements in OpenAI’s governance.

Looking at the publicly revealed new board members so far, it is notable that they bring extensive experience in technology, business, and capital markets. Economic media CNBC evaluated, “The previous board included academics and researchers, but the new directors have broad backgrounds in business and technology.” This suggests that OpenAI, which started as a nonprofit, is transforming into a form similar to other Silicon Valley startups.

Chairman Taylor is the co-CEO of Salesforce and a board member of the e-commerce technology platform Shopify. He joined Salesforce when his startup ‘Quip’ was acquired and played a key role in major acquisitions such as the company’s largest-ever M&A, the acquisition of Slack. He also served as the last chairman of Twitter’s board before Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla, acquired the platform (now X).

Altman had mentioned Taylor’s name as a candidate for the new board during negotiations with the previous OpenAI board. Taylor, like Altman, supports the commercialization of AI services, leading analysts to predict he will be a strong ally for Altman going forward. Taylor founded an AI venture with a former Google executive in February this year, but CNBC reported it is unclear whether he will discontinue managing the AI company following his appointment as chairman.

New board member former Secretary Summers served as Treasury Secretary under the Bill Clinton administration and was president of Harvard University. Recognized as a leading American economist, he also chaired the National Economic Council during the Barack Obama administration amid the global financial crisis. He currently sits on the boards of two technology companies, Block, led by Jack Dorsey, and software firm Skillsoft.

Local media interpret the recruitment of Summers, who wields strong influence in politics, business, and academia, as OpenAI’s move to respond to regulatory challenges related to AI in various countries. CNBC stated, “OpenAI faces ongoing regulatory investigations in Congress, and Summers’ connections in Washington will be invaluable to OpenAI.” Bloomberg also reported, “Summers has deep ties not only to Wall Street but also to Washington.” The outlet added that Summers will be tasked with finalizing the still incomplete board composition and organizing the company’s governance.

Reviewing Summers’ public statements on AI so far, his focus has mainly been on the impact on jobs and the labor market. In 2018, he challenged then-Treasury Secretary Steve Mnuchin’s claim that AI would not replace American jobs for the next 50 to 100 years. At the end of last year, in an interview with Bloomberg, he described ChatGPT as “profound for humanity.” He also compared this technological advancement to the early days of the printing press and electricity invention.

Adam D’Angelo, the only remaining member of the previous board who led the negotiations for Altman’s return, joined the OpenAI board in 2018. Since the Altman dismissal incident on the 17th, he has refrained from making public statements or expressing opinions. However, CNBC reported that he retweeted a post on X stating that the decision was neither “crazy” nor “retaliatory.” Other previous board members, including Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s co-founder and chief scientist, Helen Toner from Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, and Tasha McCauley, chief scientist at the RAND Corporation, have left the board.

The New York Times (NYT), citing sources, reported that “the previous board members also felt a need for a fresh start,” but added, “D’Angelo, McCauley, and Toner demanded certain concessions from Altman, including an independent investigation into OpenAI’s leadership. The outgoing board focused on curbing Altman’s power.”

The previous board cited “lack of honest communication” as the sudden reason for Altman’s dismissal but did not disclose specific details. Consequently, industry-wide analysis gained traction that Altman’s push for AI commercialization provoked resistance from the board, which had long been concerned about the risks AI might pose. This has been described as a conflict surfacing between ‘boomers’ (pro-development advocates) and ‘doomers’ (safety-focused pessimists) regarding the pace of AI development.

Unlike Altman, who has advocated for AI development and commercial use, most of the previous OpenAI board members expressed concerns that rushing AI development could pose existential risks to humanity. Chief Scientist Sutskever, a representative gradualist, reportedly worried that Altman was not paying sufficient attention to these potential dangers. Toner also criticized OpenAI on AI safety issues through a paper co-authored by researchers at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology. Emmett Shear, former Twitch CEO who was appointed interim CEO after Altman’s ousting, also belongs to the ‘doomer’ camp advocating slowing AI development.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.