Sam Altman rejoins OpenAI board months after governance crisis
Sam Altman, boss of OpenAI, returned to the board of directors of the company he co-founded on Friday, more than four months after a major governance crisis within the publisher of the leading artificial intelligence program. (generative AI), ChatGPT.
The thirty-year-old was abruptly fired in mid-November by the former council, for lack of “transparency”, then rehired a few days later.
Sam Altman, founder of OpenAI, in February 2024. © Andrew Caballero-Reynolds / RFI
By: RFI with AFP
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Microsoft, a major investor in OpenAI, supported Sam Altman and obtained an observer seat on the board after the dismissal of members critical of the boss.
In a press release published Friday, OpenAI announced the return of Sam Altman to the board and the arrival of three new members, Sue Desmond-Hellmann, former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Nicole Seligman, a former president of Sony and Fiji Simo, the head of Instacart and former director of Facebook's mobile application.
The Californian start-up highlighted the experience of the three new members “
in leading international organizations and managing complex regulatory environments, particularly in the areas of technology
”.
The success of ChatGPT at the end of 2022 propelled its creator to the rank of Silicon Valley star and launched the vogue for generative
artificial intelligence
(production of content on a simple query in everyday language).
For Sam Altman and his colleagues, the goal is to improve the technology so that it has cognitive abilities similar to or superior to those of humans – what they call “
general AI
”.
Last November, four members of the board of directors justified the dismissal of Sam Altman by his lack of “transparency” towards them, without giving further details.
According to American media, several of them criticized the former Stanford student for favoring the accelerated development of OpenAI, even if it meant asking fewer questions about the possible potential abuses of AI.
Also read: Elon Musk files complaint against OpenAI, accusing it of betraying its founding agreement
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