Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, is back at the table – or rather, the board of directors, exactly – once again.
Today, OpenAI announced that Altman will rejoin the company's board a few months after losing his chair and stepping down as CEO of OpenAI.
Joining him are three new members: former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Linda Gates Sozman-Helman, former President of Sony Entertainment Nicole Zeligman, and CEO of Instacart Fidji Simo – bringing OpenAI's board of directors to eight people.
The outgoing members of the transitional board – established after Altman's dismissal in November – will not step down with the appointment of Sozman-Helman, Zeligman, and Simo. Salesforce's Co-CEO Bert Taylor (current chairman of OpenAI's board), Quora's CEO Adam D'Angelo, and Larry Summers, the former U.S. Secretary of the Treasury, will remain in their roles on the board of directors, along with Dee Tempelton, a Microsoft-appointed board observer.
The appointment of the four new board members – and Altman's reappointment – comes after OpenAI faced criticism on the male composition of its board of directors and the appointment of Summers, known for his less-than-flattering comments about women. The Congressional Black Caucus highlighted the lack of diversity on the board in a letter sent in January, emphasizing the importance of a black perspective in building tools to mitigate bias in artificial intelligence.
OpenAI's expanded board is certainly diverse – at least in terms of their backgrounds.
In addition to heading the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for six years, Sozman-Helman was previously chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco, and before that, president of product development at Genentech, where she helped develop cancer-targeted drugs. Sozman-Helman is an oncologist by training, certified in internal medicine and medical oncology.
Zeligman, a lawyer and corporate executive, gained national attention for representing Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North during the Iran-Contra affair and President Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial. Zeligman was the VP and general counsel of Sony before rising through the ranks to CEO of Sony Corporation and president of Sony Corporation of America.
As for Fidji Simo, before becoming CEO of Instacart, she was head of the Facebook app at Meta and vice president overseeing Meta's various video, gaming, and monetization efforts. Simo also co-founded – and now serves as president of – The Metrodora Foundation, a health clinic and research institute.
"Linda, Fidji, and Nicole bring experience leading global organizations and navigating complex regulatory environments, including backgrounds in technology, nonprofits, and government councils," OpenAI wrote in a blog post. "They will work closely with current board members Adam D'Angelo, Larry Summers, and Bert Taylor as well as Sam and OpenAI's senior leadership."
The expansion of the board and Altman's return also follow an investigation by the law firm WilmerHale, retained by OpenAI, which concluded that Altman's removal was a result of a breakdown in trust and relationships between Altman and the previous board – not due to "concerns related to safety or product security, development pace, OpenAI's finances, or its statements to investors, clients, or business partners."
OpenAI stated in a blog post that during the investigation, WilmerHale conducted dozens of interviews with the company's former board, current executives, advisors, and other witnesses, and reviewed thousands of documents and other corporate actions. According to the firm, the former board had the right to dismiss Altman – but Altman's conduct did not necessitate dismissal.
"We have come to the conclusion that Sam and (OpenAI President Greg Brockman) are the right leaders for OpenAI," stated Taylor. "We recognize the importance of our role in managing transformative technologies for the greater good."
It is reasonable to assume that not everyone at OpenAI would agree.
The New York Times reported earlier this week paints a picture of Altman as manipulative – a leader who tells people what they want to hear to charm them and support his decisions, but questions his credibility when challenged. OpenAI CTO Mira Murati and former OpenAI board member and lead scientist Ilya Sutskever approached the previous board of directors to express concerns about Altman's behavior before his dismissal last year, according to the "Times."
In addition to today's appointments to the board of directors, OpenAI also stated that it will implement a new set of corporate governance policies, including strengthening its conflict of interest policy, creating a hotline for whistleblowers "to serve as an anonymous reporting resource for all OpenAI employees and contractors," and establishing additional board committees – including a mission and strategy committee "focused on implementing and advancing OpenAI's core mission."
We have requested further information from OpenAI on the updated conflict of interest policy, mission and strategy committee, and will update this post if we hear back.
