Former OpenAI board member tells all about Altman’s ousting

In addition, she said, “On multiple occasions, he gave us inaccurate information about the small number of formal safety processes that the company did have in place, meaning that it was basically impossible for the board to know how well those safety processes were working or what might need to change.”

The final example she said she could share, “because it’s been very widely reported, relates to this paper that I wrote, which, I think, has been way overplayed in the press.”

Sidhu told his audience that Toner co-wrote a research paper last fall intended for policy makers: “What you need to know is that Sam Altman was not happy about it. It seemed like Helen’s paper was critical of open AI and more positive about one of their competitors, Anthropic. It was also published right when the Federal Trade Commission was investigating OpenAI about the data used to build its generative AI products.”

Toner replied that the problem was that, “after the paper came out, Sam started lying to other board members in order to try and push me off the board. So, it was another example that just like really damaged our ability to trust him and actually only happened in late October last year, when we were already talking pretty seriously about whether we needed to fire him.”

Toner one of four board members to vote for Altman’s dismissal in November 2023, before being ousted herself upon his return a week later,

The OpenAI saga, said Sidhu, “shows that trying to do good and regulating yourself is not enough.” He then asked Toner why it is necessary to have regulations.