PRESS RELEASE. June 13, 2024. OpenAI appoints Retired U.S. Army General Paul M. Nakasone to Board of Directors
Nakasone brings cybersecurity experience to growing Board of Directors; will join the Board’s Safety and Security Committee.
Today, Retired U.S. Army General Paul M. Nakasone has joined our 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.
As a first priority, Nakasone will join the Board’s Safety and Security Committee, which is responsible for making recommendations to the full Board on critical safety and security decisions for all OpenAI projects and operations.
The security of OpenAI’s systems—from protecting the large AI training supercomputers we operate to securing our sensitive model weights and the data entrusted to us by customers—is central to achieving our mission. As AI technology becomes more capable on the path to artificial general intelligence (AGI), we are becoming more resilient to increasingly sophisticated cyber security threats over time.
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. We believe 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.
“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,“ said Bret Taylor, Chair of OpenAI’s Board. “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.”
General Nakasone shared his perspective on joining the Board, stating, “OpenAI’s dedication to its mission aligns closely with my own values and experience in public service. I look forward to contributing to OpenAI’s efforts to ensure artificial general intelligence is safe and beneficial to people around the world.”
Retired U.S. Army General Paul M. Nakasone is a leading expert in cybersecurity, technology advancement, and global cyber defense. In his career as an Army officer, he was pivotal in the creation of U.S. Cyber Command. He was 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 cyberdefense capabilities. He has served in command and staff positions across all levels of the United States Army with assignments with elite cyber units in the United States, the Republic of Korea, Iraq, and Afghanistan.
Learn more:
- OpenAI appoints former top US cyberwarrior Paul Nakasone to its board of directors – AP NEWS
- SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — OpenAI has appointed a former top U.S. cyberwarrior and intelligence official to its board of directors, saying he will help protect the ChatGPT maker from “increasingly sophisticated bad actors.”
Retired Army Gen. Paul Nakasone was the commander of U.S. Cyber Command and the director of the National Security Agency before stepping down earlier this year.
He joins an OpenAI board of directors that’s still picking up new members after upheaval at the San Francisco artificial intelligence company forced a reset of the board’s leadership last year. The previous board had abruptly fired CEO Sam Altman and then was itself replaced as he returned to his CEO role days later.
OpenAI reinstated Altman to its board of directors in March and said it had “full confidence” in his leadership after the conclusion of an outside investigation into the company’s turmoil. OpenAI’s board is technically a nonprofit but also governs its rapidly growing business.
Nakasone is also joining OpenAI’s new safety and security committee — a group that’s supposed to advise the full board on “critical safety and security decisions” for its projects and operations. The safety group replaced an earlier safety team that was disbanded after several of its leaders quit.
Nakasone was already leading the Army branch of U.S. Cyber Command when then-President Donald Trump in 2018 picked him to be director of the NSA, one of the nation’s top intelligence posts, and head of U.S. Cyber Command. He maintained the dual roles when President Joe Biden took office in 2021. He retired in February.