// THE VERGE — INTELLIGENZA ARTIFICIALE
The OpenAI board member who fired Sam Altman says we still can’t trust AI CEOs
Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Posts from this topic will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
CSET’s Helen Toner says ‘we’re screwed’ if our AI safety plan rests on any one person being trusted to get this right.
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Posts from this author will be added to your daily email digest and your homepage feed.
Today, I’m talking with Helen Toner, the executive director of the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University. This episode is part two of our series on AI in real life.
Helen is a well-known figure in the AI safety and policy community, though she is perhaps best known for having served on the board of OpenAI, when she was one of four board members who voted to fire Sam Altman. That incident, now sometimes referred to as “the blip,” ended with Sam coming back as CEO, Helen resigning, and a new board of directors. OpenAI has since restructured entirely.
But it’s worth remembering what Helen and the board were supposed to do: OpenAI’s nonprofit board existed specifically to make sure the company didn’t betray its mission to build safe AI by prioritizing profit and growth over safety. When the board actually tried to pull the lever, that accountability mechanism broke, and here we are.
Verge subscribers, don’t forget you get exclusive access to ad-free Decoder wherever you get your podcasts. Head here. Not a subscriber? You can sign up here.