Sam Altman to Return to OpenAI Board of Directors
In a surprise move, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is rejoining the board of directors of the non profit that oversees the artificial intelligence developer, according to a person with knowledge of the situation. The decision to reinstate Altman to that position comes four and a half months after the board fired and rehired him in a matter of days, triggering an employee revolt that nearly collapsed the ChatGPT creator.
Also on Friday, OpenAI was getting ready to announce the appointment of three new directors: Sue Desmond-Hellmann, a former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Nicole Seligman, a former president of Sony Entertainment; and Fidji Simo, CEO of Instacart. The new appointments would increase the number of directors at the nonprofit to seven.
Ilya Sutskever, the OpenAI chief scientist and co-founder who was one of four board directors to fire Altman in November over the CEO's alleged lack of candor with other directors, is still in talks about remaining at the company, executives told staff on Friday. Sutskever is credited with many of OpenAI's technical breakthroughs and has been concerned about the dangers posed by advanced AI. He has been nearly absent from company affairs since the drama in November, leading to speculation he may depart.