CEO Sam Altman rejoins the OpenAI's board with three new members

OpenAI announced that CEO Sam Altman rejoined its board of directors alongside three new members. The decision came right after the conclusion of an internal investigation by US law firm WilmerHale. In December, OpenAI hired the law firm to investigate the abrupt termination and immediate rehiring of Altman as OpenAI’s CEO. 

OpenAI shared the findings of the WilmerHale investigation and reinstated Sam Altman to the board

Here’s the list of newly announced board members along with CEO Sam Altman:

• Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann, former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation 
•  Nicole Seligman, former President of Sony Entertainment
•  Fidji Simo, CEO of Instacart 

The WilmerHale review concluded that Altman’s termination was a “consequence of a breakdown in the relationship and loss of trust” between him and previous board members.

OpenAI didn’t release the full report but it summarized WilmerHale’s findings in its recent blog post. 

According to the released summary, the law firm reviewed over 30,000 documents and conducted interviews with prior OpenAI board members, OpenAI executives, board advisors, and several witnesses.

It is worth noting that the transitory board appointed after Altman’s removal will stay in place. It includes Adam D’Angelo, Larry Summers, Bret Taylor, and Greg Brockman. That means there will be a total of eight OpenAI board members.

The newly appointed board members have agreed to adopt a few things to improve OpenAI’s governance structure. Talking of the same in the blog post, OpenAI mentions:

The Board also announced the adoption of important improvements to OpenAI’s governance structure. Key enhancements include:

• Adopting a new set of corporate governance guidelines;
•  Strengthening OpenAI’s Conflict of Interest Policy;
•  Creating a whistleblower hotline to serve as an anonymous reporting resource for all OpenAI employees and contractors; and
•  Creating additional Board committees, including a Mission & Strategy committee focused on the implementation and advancement of the core mission of OpenAI. 

The comeback of Altman is good news for OpenAI and its stakeholders. Time will tell if things will remain smooth between him and new board members going down the line.