ChatGPT creator OpenAI will reportedly deny seats on its overhauled board of directors to key backers like Microsoft, Thrive Capital and Khosla Ventures – despite causing investor fury with the surprise firing and eventual return of CEO Sam Altman this month.
Microsoft and other firms were blindsided when OpenAI’s safety-minded board members pushed out Altman.
He was reinstalled as CEO five days later as part of a deal that included the creation of a new board — after Microsoft boss Satya Nadella and other investors played a key role in the talks.
Despite the recent turmoil, the outside investors are unlikely to have representatives on what is expected to be a nine-person board at the leading AI firm, The Information reported, citing a person familiar with the situation.
If it holds, the decision suggests that the nonprofit will “prioritize safety practices ahead of investor returns,” the outlet added.
Last week, OpenAI revealed that it had named three people to its initial board: former Twitter chairman Bret Taylor, Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo and ex-Treasury Secretary Larry Summer.
Their membership has yet to be finalized, though that could reportedly happen as soon as this week.
“We are collaborating to figure out the details,” OpenAI said in a statement posted on X at the time.
Of the trio, only D’Angelo served on the board’s previous iteration. Altman will not initially have a seat on the board, though it is possible he could be added in the future. He is also reportedly expected to have a say in who is added to the entity.
Other departing OpenAI board directors included Tasha McCauley of GeoSim Systems, Helen Toner, director at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, and co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, who later tweeted that he regretted participating in Altman’s removal. Sutskever is still an employee at the company.
The board’s former chairman, Greg Brockman, had resigned in protest over its decision to fire Altman. Like Altman, Brockman has since returned, though he won’t have a seat on the reconstituted board.
Microsoft will reportedly be denied a board seat despite committing more than $10 billion to the firm’s development.
Representatives for OpenAI, Microsoft, Thrive Capital and Khosla Ventures did not immediately return requests for comment.
Ahead of Altman’s return, Nadella warned on CNBC that OpenAI’s bizarre leadership structure was in need of an overhaul.
“At this point, I think it’s very clear that something has to change around the governance,” Nadella said.
Investor Vinod Khosla had also blasted OpenAI’s previous board in a column for The Information, accusing its members of making a “grave miscalculation” that had “set back the promise of artificial intelligence.”
Altman’s ouster initially raised questions about whether Thrive would pull out of its role as lead buyer for a looming share sale that would boost OpenAI’s valuation to more than $80 billion.
However, The Information reported that the Thrive-led round would continue as planned following Altman’s return.
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