OpenAI Reinstates Sam Altman as CEO and Introduces New Board Members

Sam Altman, the CEO of OpenAI, has a seat at the table — or board, rather — once again.

OpenAI today announced that Altman will be rejoining the company’s board of directors several months after losing his seat and being pushed out as OpenAI’s CEO.

Joining alongside him are three new members, former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation Sue Desmond-Hellmann, ex-Sony Entertainment president Nicole Seligman and Instacart CEO Fidji Simo — bringing OpenAI’s board to seven people.

The members of transitory board — the board formed after Altman’s firing in November — won’t be stepping down with the appointment of Desmond-Hellmann, Seligman and Simo. Salesforce co-CEO Bret Taylor (OpenAI’s current board chair), Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo and Larry Summers, the economist and former Harvard president, will remain in their roles on the board, as will Dee Templeton, a Microsoft-appointed board observer.

The appointment of four new board members, including the reappointment of Altman, follows criticism of OpenAI’s entirely male board and the controversial nomination of Summers, a figure known for his disparaging comments about women. The Congressional Black Caucus brought attention to the board’s diversity deficit in a January letter, underlining the significance of the Black perspective in the creation of tools to limit AI bias.

The restructured board of OpenAI showcases distinct diversity, at least in terms of individual backgrounds.

Desmond-Hellmann has a comprehensive background, with past responsibilities as the CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for six years, chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco, and the president of product development at Genentech, where she contributed to the creation of gene-targeted cancer treatments. Desmond-Hellmann is medically trained as an oncologist and holds board certifications in both internal medicine and medical oncology.

Seligman, a legal practitioner and corporate director, gained national recognition for her defense of Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North during the Iran-Contra hearings and President Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial. Prior to her ascent to the positions of CEO of Sony Corporation and president of Sony Corporation of America, Seligman served as Sony’s general counsel and VC.

Prior to being named the CEO of Instacart, Fidji Simo served as the head of the Facebook app at Meta and the Vice President in charge of Meta’s various video, games and monetization efforts. Moreover, Simo is the co-founder and current president of The Metrodora Foundation, a health clinic, and research institute.

In a blog post, OpenAI stated that, “Sue, Fidji and Nicole possess experience in leading global organizations and dealing with complex regulatory environments, including their backgrounds in technology, nonprofit and board governance. They will collaborate closely with existing Board Members Adam D’Angelo, Larry Summers and Bret Taylor, as well as Sam and OpenAI’s senior management.”

The reinstatement of Altman and the expansion of the board follows a thorough investigation by law firm WilmerHale, hired by OpenAI, which concluded that Altman’s dismissal was the “result of a dissolution in relationship and loss of trust” between Altman and the previous board. The investigation found no “concerns regarding product safety or security, the development pace, OpenAI’s finances or its statements to investors, customers, or business partners.”

Detailed in a blog post by OpenAI, WilmerHale carried out multiple interviews with the company’s former board, current executives, advisers and other witnesses, and reviewed countless documents and other corporate actions during this investigation. The firm concluded that the previous board was within its rights to terminate Altman, however, Altman’s behavior didn’t necessitate his removal.

“We have unanimously concluded that Sam and OpenAI president Greg Brockman are the right leaders for OpenAI,” Taylor said in a statement. “We recognize the magnitude of our role in stewarding transformative technologies for the global good.”

Not everyone at OpenAI would likely be in agreement with this sentiment.

An article by the New York Times earlier this week depicts Sam Altman in a manipulative light. According to the report, Altman was said to be a leader who often told others what they wanted to hear in order to win their favor and assertion for his decisions. However, when challenged, he would seek to undermine their credibility. OpenAI CTO Mira Murati and Ilya Sutskever, who was a former board member and chief scientist at OpenAI, voiced their concerns about Altman’s behavior to members of OpenAI’s previous board prior to his dismissal last year, as stated in the Times.

Besides the above board appointments announced today, OpenAI has also declared its intention to utilize a fresh set of guidelines regarding corporate governance. This includes the enhancement of its policy on conflicts of interest, the introduction of a whistleblower hotline aimed at serving as an anonymous platform for all OpenAI personnel and contractors to report instances, and the creation of more board committees. Among these new committees is a mission and strategy committee whose purpose would be to focus on the realization and progression of OpenAI’s core mission.

We’ve asked OpenAI for more information on the reworked conflict of interest policy and mission and strategy committee and will update this post if we hear back.

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