OpenAI Adds Former Head Of NSA To Its Board Of Directors

OpenAI has appointed Paul M. Nakasone, who is a retired general of the US Army and a former head of the National Security Agency (NSA), to its board of directors. Nakasone was nominated to lead the NSA by former POTUS Donald Trump. He directed the agency from 2018 until February 2024. 

Before Nakasone parted ways with the NSA, he wrote an op-ed supporting the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the surveillance program that was reauthorized in April.

The company says Nakasone will be joining its Safety and Security Committee, which was announced in May and is led by CEO Sam Altman, “as a first priority.” Nakasone will “also contribute to OpenAI’s efforts to better understand how AI can be used to strengthen cybersecurity by quickly detecting and responding to cybersecurity threats.”

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OpenAI’s Growing Board Of Directors

Recent departures related to safety at OpenAI include co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, who was crucial in Sam Altman’s firing and eventual un-firing, and Jan Leike, who wrote on X that “safety culture and processes have taken a backseat to shiny products.”

“Artificial intelligence has the potential to have huge positive impacts on people’s lives, but it can only meet this potential if these innovations are securely built and deployed,“ board chair Bret Taylor said in a statement. “General Nakasone’s unparalleled experience in areas like cybersecurity will help guide OpenAI in achieving its mission of ensuring artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.” 

OpenAI’s board of directors now features Nakasone, Altman, Adam D’Angelo, Larry Summers, Bret Taylor, Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann, Nicole Seligman, and Fidji Simo. Microsoft’s Dee Templeton also has a non-voting observer seat.

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OpenAI To Pay $250 Million To Use News Corp’s Content In ChatGPT

OpenAI and News Corp, which owns The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch, The Sun, and several more publishing brands, have signed a multi-year deal to show news from these publications in ChatGPT. News Corp announced the news recently.

OpenAI will not have access to both current and archived content from News Corp’s publications and use the data to further train its AI models. Neither company has revealed the terms of the deal, but a report in The Wall Street Journal suggests that News Corp would receive $250 million over the next five years in cash and credits.

“The pact acknowledges that there is a premium for premium journalism,” News Corp Chief Executive Robert Thomson reportedly said in a memo. “The digital age has been characterized by the dominance of distributors, often at the expense of creators, and many media companies have been swept away by a remorseless technological tide. The onus is now on us to make the most of this providential opportunity.”