The recent upheaval at OpenAI, marked by the firing and subsequent reinstatement of CEO Sam Altman, has seen revelations from Helen Toner, a former board member pivotal in Altman’s initial removal. In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Toner clarified that the decision to terminate Altman aimed at strengthening OpenAI and enhancing its mission, providing limited insight into the underlying reasons for the dramatic events.
“Our goal in firing Sam was to strengthen OpenAI and make it more able to achieve its mission,” the Australian-born researcher said as her only explanation of the headline-grabbing chain of events.
Reports suggest that tensions between Altman and Toner arose when she published a paper critical of OpenAI’s safety protocols and commended those implemented by Anthropic, founded by former OpenAI employees expressing similar concerns. During a confrontational meeting, Altman, concerned about the weight of criticism from a board member, shared his apprehensions with other board members, ultimately reinforcing doubts about his leadership. Subsequently, Altman faced vague allegations of dishonesty, with the specific nature of these accusations remaining undisclosed.
As the company navigated through internal turmoil and the threat of a mass exodus by staff supporting Altman, Toner, along with OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, resigned. Toner hinted in the WSJ interview that her departure might have been coerced by a company attorney who argued that not resigning immediately could be deemed illegal, potentially constituting a breach of fiduciary duties if the company collapsed.
“[The attorney] was trying to claim that it would be illegal for us not to resign immediately,” Toner said, “because if the company fell apart we would be in breach of our fiduciary duties.”
The departure of Toner and Tasha McCauley, an Australian academic and Rand Corporation scientist who supported Altman’s ouster, has left OpenAI’s governing body without any women. Despite these challenges, Toner adopted a forward-looking perspective, emphasizing the importance of focusing on the path ahead.
Her comment, “I think looking forward is the best path from here,” suggests a resilient attitude amid the complex circumstances surrounding OpenAI’s recent internal struggles.