The Drama Unfolding in OpenAI’s Boardroom: An Examination of the Key Players

Silicon Valley was in turmoil earlier this month when OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, was suddenly removed by the company’s board of directors. However, after a roller-coaster ride, Altman was reinstated and a new board was created. Here are the key players in the drama:

– Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO: Altman founded OpenAI as a nonprofit lab in 2015, tied it to a for-profit company, and raised $1 billion in funding from Microsoft.

– Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president: A dropout of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Brockman was among OpenAI’s 12 founders, looking to create A.I. unaffected by corporate pressures.

– Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI’s chief scientist: One of the researchers who launched the A.I. boom in 2012, Sutskever later defected to join OpenAI.

– Mira Murati, OpenAI’s chief technology officer: She briefly served as interim chief executive when four board members decided to remove Altman.

– Adam D’Angelo, OpenAI board member: Former Facebook CTO who joined the OpenAI board in 2018 and remains CEO of Quora.

– Helen Toner and Tasha McCauley, former OpenAI board members: Toner is an effective altruist and a director of strategy at Georgetown University’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology, while McCauley is an adjunct senior management scientist at the RAND Corporation.

– Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s chief executive: Agreed to invest $1 billion in OpenAI and has since increased the investment to $12 billion.

– Brian Chesky, Airbnb’s chief executive: Another tech start-up that Altman helped incubate and was among those who helped make Altman’s return to OpenAI happen.

– Emmett Shear, former chief executive of Twitch: Served as interim chief executive of OpenAI and believes that A.I. could one day destroy humanity.

– Bret Taylor, new OpenAI board chairman: Former co-CEO of Salesforce.com and the new chairman of the OpenAI board.

– Lawrence H. Summers, new OpenAI board member: Former Treasury Secretary and prominent economist who has been speaking out about the potential impact of A.I. on employment.

– Ron Conway, Silicon Valley investor: A friend of Altman’s who helped persuade Altman to return to OpenAI.

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