Before Altman’s ouster, OpenAI’s board was divided and feuding

Re:Before Altman’s ouster, OpenAI’s board was divided and fe... by NoboruWataya on Tuesday November 21, 2023 @07:45PM (#38372946)

The CEO is generally accountable to the board. A CEO trying to silence criticism and oust critical board members may be typical behaviour in the world of megalomaniacal tech startup CEOs, but it is not generally considered good corporate governance. (And usually the megalomaniacal tech startup CEOs have equity to back it up.)

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Re:Before Altman’s ouster, OpenAI’s board was divided and fe... by maxlamb on Tuesday November 21, 2023 @08:09PM (#38373221)

He said he wished she communicated her concerns to him beforehand. How can disagreements be delt with if never communicated directly? So the CEO has to first learn of a disagreement with a fellow board member through a NY Times article?

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Re:Before Altman’s ouster, OpenAI’s board was divided and fe... by foobarqux on Tuesday November 21, 2023 @08:28PM (#38373383)

The "disagreement" was never dealt with as far as I can tell --- OpenAI's safety approach hasn't become more conservative --- which means that the only effect of bringing it to the CEO beforehand was to try to have it suppressed.

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Re:Before Altman’s ouster, OpenAI’s board was divided and fe... by shrimpx on Tuesday November 21, 2023 @08:38PM (#38373459)

Hard to defend this level of flex, though:

> Mr. Altman, the chief executive, recently made a move to push out one of the board’s members because he thought a research paper she had co-written was critical of the company.

It's like your job is to fire me if I fail to fulfill the company mission, but I will fire you if you don't get my approval before saying stuff in public.

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Re:Before Altman’s ouster, OpenAI’s board was divided and fe... by s1artibartfast on Tuesday November 21, 2023 @09:35PM (#38373951)

Keep in mind Altman was also a board member with senior tenure to Toner, and basically hired her to the board.

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Re:Before Altman’s ouster, OpenAI’s board was divided and fe... by comp_throw7 on Tuesday November 21, 2023 @09:45PM (#38374050)

No, she replaced Holden Karnofsky, who was almost certainly the one to pick her.

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Re:Before Altman’s ouster, OpenAI’s board was divided and fe... by s1artibartfast on Tuesday November 21, 2023 @10:28PM (#38374400)

Why is that? I didn't think outgoing board members got to control who replaced them.

Other board members elect replacements iirc

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Re:Before Altman’s ouster, OpenAI’s board was divided and fe... by zucker42 on Tuesday November 21, 2023 @09:59PM (#38374188)

Who, it's worth mentioning, got a seat because Open Philanthropy donated $30 million to OpenAI early in its creation.

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Re:Before Altman’s ouster, OpenAI’s board was divided and fe... by baking on Tuesday November 21, 2023 @10:38PM (#38374465)

Pledged $30 million, $10 million per year for three years, but most likely only $20 million received. Elon Musk gave $40 million. There is also $70 million in mystery "other income" in the 990's that is missing the required explanation (nature and source.)

OpenAI is operated at a public charity and is required to meet a "public support test" of 33%, so Musk could not have given his $40 million without the $20 million from Open Philanthropy, an EA supported public charity. In fact, most of Open Philanthropy's money went to OpenAI.

Public charities are also required to have less than a majority of the board be employees or relatives of employees. For a while, after Elon Musk was removed, Holden Karnofsky of Open Philanthropy was the only non-employee on the board.

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Re:Before Altman’s ouster, OpenAI’s board was divided and fe... by oatmeal1 on Wednesday November 22, 2023 @12:20AM (#38375021)

Sam could never have a selective memory about such a thing...

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