OpenAI announced on Thursday the appointment of Paul M. Nakasone, a retired U.S. Army general and former director of the National Security Agency, to its board of directors. Nakasone, known for his leadership roles at the U.S. Cyber Command and the Central Security Service, brings a wealth of cybersecurity expertise to the company.
“Mr. Nakasone’s insights 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,” OpenAI stated in a blog post.
In addition to joining the board, Nakasone will serve on OpenAI’s recently established Safety and Security Committee. This committee is tasked with evaluating the company’s processes and safeguards over the next 90 days before making recommendations to the board and updating the public.
Nakasone joins a distinguished group of board members including Adam D’Angelo, Larry Summers, Bret Taylor, and Sam Altman. In March, OpenAI also welcomed new board members Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann, former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation; Nicole Seligman, former executive vice president and global general counsel of Sony; and Fidji Simo, CEO and chair of Instacart.
The addition of Nakasone comes as OpenAI enhances its board and executive team amid the rising significance of its large language models in the tech sector and increasing competition in the generative artificial intelligence market. Since the launch of ChatGPT in late 2022, OpenAI has experienced rapid growth but also faced controversies and high-level employee departures.
Earlier this week, OpenAI announced the hiring of two top executives and a partnership with Apple, which includes integrating ChatGPT with Siri. Sarah Friar, former CEO of Nextdoor and finance chief at Square, has joined as chief financial officer. She will lead a finance team focused on supporting OpenAI’s mission, ensuring continued investment in research, and scaling to meet global demands.
Kevin Weil, an ex-president at Planet Labs and former senior executive at Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram, has been appointed as chief product officer. Weil’s team will concentrate on applying OpenAI’s research to develop products and services for consumers, developers, and businesses.