Three other members have joined him: Fidji Simo, the CEO of Instacart, Sue Desmond-Hellmann, the former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, and Nicole Seligman, the former president of Sony Entertainment. With these additions, OpenAI now has eight members on its board.

The nomination of Desmond-Hellmann, Seligman, and Simo does not result in the resignation of the members of the transitionary board, which was established following Altman's dismissal in November. The current chair of OpenAI, Bret Taylor, the co-CEO of Salesforce, Adam D'Angelo, the CEO of Quora, and former Harvard president and economist Larry Summers will all continue to serve on the board, as will Microsoft-appointed board observer Dee Templeton.

Following backlash against OpenAI for its all-male board and Summers' nomination—who has a track record of making disparaging remarks about women—the four new board members were appointed, and Altman was reappointed. In a statement published in January, the Congressional Black Caucus criticized the board for lacking diversity and emphasized the value of the Black viewpoint in the development of instruments to lessen AI prejudice.

The enlarged board of OpenAI is undoubtedly varied, at least in terms of their professional experiences.

Before serving as chancellor of the University of California, San Francisco, Desmond-Hellmann headed the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation for six years. Prior to that, she was president of product development at Genentech, where she contributed to the development of gene-targeted cancer treatments. Desmond-Hellmann received his training as an oncologist, and he holds board certifications in medical oncology and internal medicine.

Seligman, a lawyer and business director, gained widespread recognition for her defense of President Bill Clinton during his impeachment trial and Lieutenant Colonel Oliver North during the Iran-Contra hearings. Before becoming the CEO of Sony Corporation and the president of Sony Corporation of America, Seligman worked for Sony as a venture capitalist and general counsel.

Fidji Simo, for her part, headed Meta's Facebook app and served as vice president in charge of the company's several video games and monetization initiatives before to joining Instacart as CEO. Simo is also the president of The Metrodora Foundation, a medical clinic and research facility that he co-founded.

"With backgrounds in technology, nonprofit, and board governance, Sue, Fidji, and Nicole have experience leading global organizations and navigating complex regulatory environments," according to a blog post by OpenAI. "They will collaborate closely with Sam and the senior management of OpenAI as well as current board members Adam D'Angelo, Larry Summers, and Bret Taylor."

The investigation conducted by OpenAI-retained law firm WilmerHale, which found that Altman's removal was due to a "fracture in the relationship and loss of trust" between Altman and the previous board and not "concerns regarding product safety or security, the pace of development, OpenAI's finances or its statement to investors, customers, or business partners," is another reason for the board's growth and Altman's reinstatement.

In a blog post, OpenAI stated that WilmerHale evaluated thousands of papers and other corporate acts in addition to conducting dozens of interviews with witnesses, advisers, and the company's previous board members. The company believes that although the previous board was appropriate to fire Altman, his actions did not justify his dismissal.

Taylor released a statement saying, "We have all agreed that Sam and [OpenAI president Greg Brockman] are the right leaders for OpenAI." "We understand how important it is to manage transformative technologies for the benefit of all people."

I doubt that everyone at OpenAI would concur.

According to stories published in the New York Times earlier this week, Altman was a cunning leader who would frequently tell followers what they wanted to hear in order to win them over and justify his choices, but would destroy their credibility if they disagreed. Concerned about Altman's actions before he was fired last year, OpenAI CTO Mira Murati and Ilya Sutskever—a former board member and chief scientist of the startup—spoke with members of the previous board, according to The Times.

A new set of corporate governance guidelines, including strengthening the conflict of interest policy, establishing a whistleblower hotline "to serve as an anonymous reporting resource for all OpenAI employees and contractors," and forming additional board committees, including a mission and strategy committee "focused on implementation and advancement of the core mission of OpenAI," are among the measures that OpenAI announced today in addition to the appointments to the board.