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OpenAI has tapped former U.S. Army general and National Security Agency director Paul M. Nakasone to join its board of directors, the continuation of a reshuffling spurred by CEO Sam Altman’s temporary ousting in November.
Nakasone, a Trump appointee who took over the NSA in 2018, will join the board’s Safety and Security Committee, which OpenAI stood up in late May to evaluate and improve its policies to test models and curb abuse.
The appointment of the career Army officer, who was the longest-serving leader of U.S. Cybercom, comes as OpenAI tries to quell criticism of its security practices — including from some of the company’s current and former employees who allege the ChatGPT-maker prioritizes profits over the safety of its products. The company is under increasing scrutiny following the exodus of several key employees and a public letter that called for sweeping changes to its practices.
“OpenAI occupies a unique role, facing cyber threats while pioneering transformative technology that could revolutionize how institutions combat them,” Nakasone told the Post in a statement. “I am looking forward to supporting the company in safeguarding its innovations while leveraging them to benefit society at large.”
Amid the public backlash, OpenAI has said it is hiring more security engineers and increasing transparency about its approach to securing the systems that power its research. Last week, a former employee, Leopold Aschenbrenner, said on a podcast that he had written a memo to OpenAI’s board last year because he felt the company’s security was “egregiously insufficient” to stop a foreign government from taking control of its technology by hacking.
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Security researchers have also pointed out that chatbots are vulnerable to “prompt injection” attacks, in which hackers can break in to a company’s computer system through a chatbot that is hooked up to its internal databases. Some companies also ban their employees from using ChatGPT out of concern that OpenAI may not be able to properly protect sensitive information fed into its chatbot.
Nakasone joins OpenAI’s board following a dramatic board shake-up. Amid a tougher regulatory environment and increased efforts to digitize government and military services, tech companies are increasingly seeking board members with military expertise. Amazon’s board includes Keith Alexander, who was previously the commander of U.S. Cyber Command and the director of the NSA. Google Public Sector, a division of the company that focuses on selling cloud services to governments, also has retired generals on its board. (Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.)
Until January, OpenAI had a ban on the use of its products for “military and warfare.” The company says the prohibition was removed to allow for military uses that align with its values, including disaster relief and support for veterans.
“Our policies have consistently prohibited the use of our tools including our API and ChatGPT to ‘develop or use weapons, injure others or destroy property,’” OpenAI spokesperson Liz Bourgeois said. “That has not changed.” Nakasone did not respond to a request for comment.
Nakasone brings deep Washington experience to the board, as the company tries build a more sophisticated government relations strategy and push the message to policymakers that U.S. AI companies are a bulwark against China.
“We want to make sure that American companies … have the lead in the innovation of this technology, I think the disruptive technology of this century,” Nakasone said when asked about AI during a recent Post Live interview.
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