Former OpenAI Director: "No Trust in Altman, Dismissed... Company Pressured Resignation"

Former OpenAI Board Member Helen Toner Claims

Statements from a former OpenAI board member revealed that the dismissal of Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, was not due to concerns about the rapid development of artificial intelligence (AI) posing a threat to humanity, but rather due to a lack of trust in Altman. Helen Toner, who was a member of the OpenAI board that ousted Altman, also disclosed that the company faced pressure from management suggesting that the board could be held responsible for the company's collapse following Altman's dismissal.

On the 7th (local time), Toner told the US daily The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) in an interview, "The goal of firing Sam was to strengthen OpenAI and better fulfill its mission."

Although she mentioned a lack of trust, Toner did not provide specific reasons behind the surprise dismissal of Altman by herself and three other board members. However, she described OpenAI as a very unique organization, stating, "The nonprofit mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity is the top priority."

According to Toner's explanation, while the lack of trust in Altman was the apparent reason for the board's decision to remove the CEO, underlying it was a significant difference in views regarding AI safety and the pace of development. Altman, known as the "father of ChatGPT," is a representative Boomer (development advocate) who accelerated AI commercialization, whereas Toner, a computer scientist from Australia, is closer to a Doomer (doomsayer) who has raised her voice on AI ethics and safety.

Earlier reports from The New York Times (NYT) indicated that Altman and Toner had experienced serious conflicts. The Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET) at Georgetown, where Toner serves as a board member, criticized OpenAI on AI safety issues and published a paper asserting that competitor Anthropic was superior. Toner's defense of CSET reportedly intensified the conflict with Altman. Subsequently, Altman attempted to remove Toner from the board, and Toner rallied other board members to defend herself, leading to internal turmoil.

Toner emphasized that the decision to dismiss Altman was made with good intentions. She did not mention whether there was any further communication with him after the ousting. WSJ cited sources saying, "Before his reinstatement, Altman offered to apologize to Toner for his actions," but "ultimately, he returned to the company without apologizing."

In the first statement released by the OpenAI board immediately after Altman's dismissal on the 17th of last month, it was explained that "Altman had consistently been less than candid." The surprise removal of the CEO without sufficient explanation sparked backlash from major shareholders such as Microsoft (MS) and most company employees. Ultimately, Altman was reinstated after five days, and three of the four board members were replaced.

Toner revealed that she faced considerable pressure to resign during this process. An OpenAI lawyer warned that if the company collapsed due to the decision to dismiss Altman, the board could be held responsible. Toner said, "He argued that if the company collapsed, we would be violating our fiduciary duties, and it would be illegal not to resign immediately." At the time, Toner responded, "The company's collapse would effectively align with our mission," explaining in the interview that this was her response to the lawyer's "intimidation tactics."

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