Internal Board Conflicts and Growing Distrust

Key Insight

The OpenAI board experienced significant internal turmoil, exacerbated by three pro-Altman board members stepping down in quick succession. Reid Hoffman left in March 2023 over a conflict of interest related to starting Inflection AI, a competitor. Shivon Zilis, an AI expert and Neuralink executive close to Musk, was forced out later that month due to a conflict after it was revealed she had twins with Musk, who then started rival company xAI. Will Hurd, a former Republican congressman and Altman's friend, departed in July to run for president, shrinking the board from nine to six members and leaving three independent members alongside Altman, Brockman, and Sutskever.

Adam D'Angelo, a remaining board member, grew increasingly concerned about OpenAI's corporate governance, specifically the structure where employees reporting to Altman (Brockman and Sutskever) also sat on the oversight board. These concerns intensified after the GPT-4 demo in summer 2022, highlighting the grave implications of their decisions. Trust further eroded due to instances like Altman falsely claiming all three controversial GPT-4 enhancements had Deployment Safety Board (DSB) approval, when only one did. Additionally, a Microsoft safety breach involving a GPT-4 test in India, discovered by a board member through an employee and not Altman, indicated failing safety processes.

Growing distrust was solidified when OpenAI employee Mira Murati and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever revealed critical information to independent board members Helen Toner and Tasha McCauley. Murati described Altman's 'toxic style' and 'simple playbook' of saying what was needed or undermining others, making collaboration with Brockman untenable. Sutskever shared detailed documentation, including screenshots, alleging dozens of examples of lying and toxic behavior by Altman and bullying by Brockman. These revelations, coupled with the pervasive fear among staff and leadership about Altman's dishonesty, convinced the independent board members that Altman should be fired, especially with the company approaching AGI.