These OpenAI board members were responsible for dismissing Sam Altman
OpenAI has announced its co-founder and CEO Sam Altman has been ousted after a review discovered he was "not consistently candid in his communications" with the board of directors. The firm declared, "The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI." This decision was reached by OpenAI's board, including Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever and three external members: Quora CEO Adam D'Angelo, tech entrepreneur Tasha McCauley, and Helen Toner from Georgetown's Center for Security and Emerging Technology.
Sutskever is chief scientist at OpenAI
Sutskever, the chief scientist and lone remaining co-founder on OpenAI's board of directors, has a rich background in AI. After completing his computer science PhD at the University of Toronto, he co-founded DNNResearch, later serving as a research scientist at Google until 2015. As OpenAI's initial research director and later as chief scientist from 2018, Sutskever played a pivotal role in key AI milestones. He's been leading an OpenAI team addressing the challenges of AI surpassing human intelligence.
D'Angelo, CEO of Quora and independent director at OpenAI
D'Angelo joined OpenAI's board in April 2018. He co-founded Quora and currently serves as its CEO. In June 2009, D'Angelo launched Quora, personally investing $20 million during its Series B funding round. Prior to this, he held significant positions at Facebook as its CTO and vice president of engineering until 2008. A graduate of the California Institute of Technology with a BS in computer science, D'Angelo has also advised and invested in Instagram before it was acquired by Facebook.
McCauley sat on OpenAI's board since 2018
McCauley is another independent director at OpenAI and a technology entrepreneur based in Los Angeles. In early 2023, she assumed the role of adjunct senior management scientist at RAND Corporation. Before this, she played key roles in launching start-ups such as Fellow Robots and GeoSim Systems. Together with her husband, actor Joseph Gordon-Levitt, McCauley endorsed Asilomar AI Principles—a compilation of 23 AI governance principles released in 2017. It was also signed by Altman, Sutskever, and former board director Elon Musk.
Helen Toner joined board in September 2021
Toner holds the position of director of Strategy and Foundational Research Grants at Georgetown's Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET). She's been a member of OpenAI's board of directors since September 2021. Toner previously served as a senior research analyst at Open Philanthropy, providing advice to policymakers and grantmakers on AI policy and strategy. Having lived in Beijing, she conducted research on the Chinese AI ecosystem as a research affiliate for Oxford University's Center for the Governance of AI.
