Why OpenAI is becoming more difficult to trust

• OpenAI has appointed former NSA Director Paul Nakasone to its board of directors.
• Nakasone’s hiring aims to bolster AI security but raises concerns about surveillance.
• The company’s internal safety group has also been effectively disbanded.

There are scary secret security guards outside his office. It has just appointed a former National Security Agency director to its board. Its internal working group aimed at promoting the safe use of artificial intelligence has been disbanded.

OpenAI feels less open every day.

In its latest surprising move, the company Friday said It has appointed former National Security Agency Director Paul Nakasone to its board of directors.

In addition to leading the NSA, Nakasone was head of U.S. Cyber ​​Command – the Department of Defense’s cybersecurity division. OpenAI says Nakasone’s appointment represents its “commitment to safety and security” and underscores the importance of cybersecurity as AI continues to evolve.

“OpenAI’s dedication to its mission closely aligns with my values ​​and experience in public service,” Nakasone said in a statement. “I look forward to contributing to OpenAI’s efforts to ensure that artificial general intelligence is safe and beneficial to people around the world.”

But critics worry that Nakasone’s appointment may represent something else: surveillance.

Edward Snowden, the American whistleblower who leaked classified documents about surveillance in 2013, said in a letter: Share on X That Nakasone’s appointment was a “calculated betrayal of the rights of every person on Earth.”

“They have completely masked it: never trust OpenAI or its products (ChatGPT etc.),” Snowden wrote.

In another Comment on X“The intersection of artificial intelligence with the ocean of mass surveillance data that has accumulated over the past two decades will put truly terrible powers in the hands of an unaccountable few,” Snowden said.

Sin. On the other hand, Mark Warner, a Democrat from Virginia and chairman of the Senate Intelligence Committee, called Nakasone’s appointment a “huge win.”

“There is no one in the security community, broadly speaking, who is more respected than him,” Warner said. Axios said.

Nakasone’s security expertise may be needed at OpenAI, as critics have expressed concern that security issues could expose him to attacks.

OpenAI fired former board member Leopold Aschenbrenner in April after he sent a memo detailing a “major security incident.” He described the company’s security as “scandalously insufficient” to protect against theft by foreign parties.

Soon after, the OpenAI superteam — which had been focused on developing AI systems aligned with human interests — abruptly disbanded after two of the company’s top safety researchers resigned.

Jan Lake, one of the departing researchers, said he had been “disagreeing with OpenAI’s leadership on the company’s core priorities for some time.”

Ilya Sutskever, chief scientist at OpenAI, who initially launched the hyperalignment team, was more circumspect about his reasons for leaving. But company insiders said he was on shaky ground because of his role in the failed ouster of CEO Sam Altman. Sutskever disapproved of Altman’s aggressive approach to developing artificial intelligence, which inflamed their power struggle.

And if all that wasn’t enough, even locals who live and work near OpenAI’s San Francisco office say the company is starting to turn them away. said the cashier at the pet store next door San Francisco standard That the office has a “secret atmosphere.”

Many workers at nearby companies say men who look like secret security guards stand outside the building but won’t say they work for OpenAI.

“[OpenAI] “Not a bad neighbor,” said one of them. “But they’re secretive.”