OpenAI Welcomes Former NSA Director Paul M. Nakasone to Its Board

OpenAI has announced the addition of Paul M. Nakasone, a retired U.S. Army general and former director of the National Security Agency (NSA), to its board of directors. Nakasone, who also served as the longest-standing leader of the U.S. Cyber Command and chief of the Central Security Service, brings extensive expertise in cybersecurity to OpenAI.

“Mr. Nakasone’s insights will contribute significantly to OpenAI’s efforts to harness AI for strengthening cybersecurity by swiftly detecting and responding to cyber threats,” OpenAI stated in a blog post.

Nakasone will also join OpenAI’s newly established Safety and Security Committee. This committee is tasked with a 90-day evaluation of the company’s processes and safeguards, after which they will make recommendations to the board and update the public.

Nakasone’s appointment follows OpenAI’s recent efforts to enhance its leadership team amidst the rapid growth and increasing importance of its large language models in the tech industry. The company has also faced controversies and high-level employee departures since launching ChatGPT in late 2022.

OpenAI’s board now includes Adam D’Angelo, Larry Summers, Bret Taylor, and Sam Altman, along with new members Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann, Nicole Seligman, and Fidji Simo, who were announced in March.

Additionally, OpenAI announced on Monday the hiring of two top executives and a strategic partnership with Apple, which includes the integration of ChatGPT with Siri. Sarah Friar, former CEO of Nextdoor and finance chief at Square, has joined as the chief financial officer. Kevin Weil, previously president at Planet Labs and a senior executive at Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, has been appointed as the chief product officer.