Helen Toner, one of OpenAI’s former board members who was responsible for firing CEO Sam Altman last year, recently revealed that the company’s board was unaware of the launch of ChatGPT until it was released in November 2022. Speaking on a podcast called The Ted AI Show, Toner stated, “[The] board was not informed in advance of that. We learned about ChatGPT on Twitter.” This revelation came just two days after she criticized the way OpenAI was governed in an Economist article co-written with Tasha McCauley, another former OpenAI board member.
This is the first time Toner has spoken openly about the circumstances leading to Altman’s dramatic ouster from the company he co-founded in 2015 and his swift reinstatement following protests from employees. In the podcast, Toner, who is currently a director of strategy at the Centre for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown, said that Altman had made it difficult for OpenAI’s board to perform its duties by withholding information, misrepresenting facts, and “in some cases outright lying to the board.”
She added that Altman had also hidden the company’s ownership structure from the board, failing to disclose that he owned the OpenAI startup fund while claiming to be an independent board member with no financial interest in the company. According to Toner, Altman’s actions “really damaged our ability to trust him,” leading the board to seriously consider firing him by October 2023.
Toner also criticized Altman’s leadership regarding AI safety concerns, stating that he often provided the board with inaccurate information about the company’s safety processes. This made it essentially impossible for the board to assess the effectiveness of these processes or determine what might need to change. Her comments highlight the internal conflicts and governance issues that plagued OpenAI during this period.
When asked for comment, an OpenAI spokesperson referred Engadget to a statement provided to The Ted AI Show. Bret Taylor, OpenAI’s current board chief and co-CEO of Salesforce, expressed disappointment that Toner continued to revisit these issues. He stated that an independent review of Altman’s firing concluded that the prior board’s decision was not based on concerns regarding product safety or security, the pace of development, OpenAI’s finances, or its statements to investors, customers, or business partners.
The exact reasons for Altman’s abrupt ouster last year remain unclear and have been a source of intense speculation in Silicon Valley. In March, Altman was reinstated to the board by a group of temporary board members, including Taylor, economist Larry Summers, OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman, Instacart CEO and former Meta executive Fiji Simo, former Sony executive Nicole Seligman, and former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann. An independent investigation by the law firm WilmerHale found that Toner’s decision to fire Altman, along with the rest of OpenAI’s previous board, resulted from a breakdown in the relationship and a loss of trust between the prior board and Altman. The investigation also found that the previous board had fired Altman abruptly without giving him a chance to respond to its concerns.
Toner’s revelations are the latest controversy involving OpenAI, the company that sparked the modern AI revolution. Over the past few days, multiple safety researchers left the company, publicly criticizing its leadership. Additionally, OpenAI faced backlash for requiring departing employees to sign nondisparagement agreements, which it later backtracked on after a Vox investigation. The company was also forced to explain itself after actor Scarlett Johansson accused it of copying her voice for ChatGPT despite denying permission.
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