Helen Toner, former OpenAI board member, who fired Sam Altman revealed that the board didn't notice about ChatGPT until it launched

Helen Toner, former independent director of OpenAI's board, was one of the people who voted to fire OpenAI CEO Sam Altman, this news made headlines in November last year.

In an interview with The TED AI Show podcast, she revealed more details that led to the decision to fire Altman.

Toner, now director of the Center for Security and Emerging Technology at Georgetown University, said the board's distrust of Altman came when the board launched the ChatGPT chatbot in late 2022, which the board was not aware of until she saw the post on Twitter along with everyone.

This may require going back a bit to the day OpenAI launched ChatGPT, but at first it wasn't a big issue that people were paying attention to.

But soon after its launch, ChatGPT became a major topic of discussion for its capabilities. Now, ChatGPT had made AI become megatrend.

There have been many instances where Altman has not provided accurate information about AI product safety processes, leaving boards unable to understand or understand the process.

Therefore, there is a problem in giving advice as a board. These matters have been accumulating for some time and have caused the board to lose trust in Altman.

Following Altman’s sudden removal, there was a significant upheaval within the company, with employees threatening to resign,

However, from the incident more than 95% of OpenAI employees supported Altman's return as CEO, and OpenAI reaffirmed its core mission of making AGI safe for all.

The incident eventually led to Altman’s returned as CEO and the departure of Toner and other board members.

Toner recently made a similar comment to the Economist, saying that OpenAI has governance problems and recommend that government agencies play a greater role in monitoring AI safety.

OpenAI has not yet responded to Toner's comments.

However, OpenAI’s current board chief, Bret Taylor, expressed disappointment that Toner continues to revisit these issues but emphasized that an independent review concluded that the board’s decision to fire Altman was not based on product safety, security, development pace, financial concerns, or statements to investors, customers, or business partners.

The company remains focused on its mission to ensure that artificial general intelligence (AGI) benefits all of humanity.