Over the past year, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has been surrounded by a number of controversies, including his brief removal from the company in November 2023. Altman’s removal and subsequent re-hiring created much stir in Silicon Valley as people speculated over the exact reasons for his removal in the first place. Now Helen Toner, the former board member of OpenAI, has made some revelations regarding his ouster last year. She revealed that the board was not briefed about the launch of ChatGPT by Altman and instead, they got to know about it when they saw it on X. Helen Toner’s revelation has once again sparked discussion about Altman and his real plans with OpenAI.
Helen Toner attended a podcast show called “The Ted AI Show podcast” and accused Altman of withholding information and even outright lying to the board members. The Australian researcher said, “Sam had made it really difficult for the board to actually do that job by, you know, withholding information, misrepresenting things that were happening at the company, and in some cases, outright lying to the board.” She added that Altman never told them that he was also the owner of the OpenAI Startup Fund and always claimed that he was an independent member with no financial interest in the company.
Helen Toner further added that Altman gave board members “inaccurate information about the small number of formal safety processes” the company had in place. This made it impossible to determine the adequacy of the safety measures. She also added that the board had many discussions in October last year regarding Altman’s ouster.
In the podcast, Toner said that two OpenAI executives informed the board of the toxic work culture proliferated by Altman. She described the nature of Altman’s “abusive” work environment, “They were really serious, to the point where they actually sent us screenshots and documentation of some of the instances they were telling us about.”
The researcher who is known for her involvement in the effective altruism movement, reportedly fell out of favour with Altman after she co-wrote a research paper that raised safety and ethics issues related to the launches of ChatGPT and GPT-4. Her paper was published in October 2023, a few weeks before Altman was ousted.
In response to Helen Toner’s allegations, OpenAI board chair Bret Taylor provided a statement to the “The Ted AI Show” podcast that said, “We are disappointed that Miss Toner continues to revisit these issues…The review 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.”
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