Altman retakes OpenAI board seat after investigation into sudden firing
Sam Altman, OpenAI's CEO, has been cleared of any misconduct after a thorough investigation by law firm WilmerHale. The probe found that his sudden firing last year resulted from a "breakdown in the relationship and loss of trust between" the prior board and Altman. Altman is rejoining OpenAI's board, along with three new members: Sue Desmond-Hellmann, former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Nicole Seligman, a former Sony Entertainment executive; and Instacart CEO Fidji Simo.
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What are the investigation findings
WilmerHale's investigation has discovered that Altman's dismissal was unrelated to product safety, security, development pace, or OpenAI's financial situation. Over 700 OpenAI employees had protested and threatened to leave the company after Altman's unceremonious firing last November. Altman's return to the board comes at a time when Elon Musk has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI, alleging that it has violated "founding agreement" by not establishing itself as an open-source, non-profit organization. Musk co-founded OpenAI in 2015 and left in 2018.
Unusual board mandate
OpenAI's board has a special mission to prioritize humanity's welfare over shareholder interests. The board is in charge of determining when the start-up achieves artificial general intelligence (AGI), a highly advanced AI capable of outperforming humans in most economically valuable work. With three new female members joining the previously all-male board, questions still linger about what caused the rift between Altman and the prior board.
New policy to prevent conflicts of interest
In response to Altman's numerous side projects, including a $7 trillion chip-building initiative, OpenAI's board has implemented a new policy to avoid potential conflicts of interest. Meanwhile, OpenAI chief scientist and co-founder Ilya Sutskever, who resigned from the board alongside Tasha Mccauley and Helen Toner after firing Altman, is still in discussions about staying with the company.
