OpenAI Hired Former Director of the NSA and Retired U.S. Army General Paul M. Nakasone

IBL News | New York

OpenAI announced this month it hired Paul M. Nakasone, a retired U.S. Army general and former director of the National Security Agency, for its Board of Directors.

“A leading expert in cybersecurity, Nakasone’s appointment reflects OpenAI’s commitment to safety and security, and underscores the growing significance of cybersecurity as the impact of AI technology continues to grow,” explained the company.

Nakasone will join the Board’s Safety and Security Committee, which recommends protecting the large AI training supercomputers and securing our sensitive model weights and data.

“AI has the potential to deliver significant benefits in this area for many institutions frequently targeted by cyber attacks like hospitals, schools, and financial institutions,” said the company.

General Nakasone stated, “I look forward to contributing to OpenAI’s efforts to ensure artificial general intelligence is safe and beneficial to people around the world.”

He was pivotal in the creation of U.S. Cyber Command, the longest-serving leader of USCYBERCOM, and also led the National Security Agency, where he was charged with safeguarding the United States’ digital infrastructure and advancing the country’s cyber defense capabilities.

Nakasone joins current board members Adam D’Angelo, Larry Summers, Bret Taylor and Sam Altman, as well as some new board members the company announced in March: 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.

OpenAI on Monday announced a partnership with Apple that includes a ChatGPT-Siri integration as well as the hiring of two top executives:

• Sarah Friar, previously CEO of Nextdoor and finance chief at Square, is joining as chief financial officer.

• Kevin Weil, an ex-president at Planet Labs, will be the new chief product officer. Weil was previously a senior vice president at Twitter and a vice president at Facebook and Instagram.