As a journalist, I was the first venture investor in OpenAI. The recent weekend drama has further strengthened my conviction that the wrong boards can harm companies. While fancy titles like “Director of Strategy at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology” may give a false sense of understanding about the complex process of entrepreneurial innovation, it is important to recognize that the misapplication of values like “effective altruism” by OpenAI’s board members could have set back the world’s progress towards tremendous benefits from artificial intelligence.
Imagine a world where everyone has access to free doctors and near-free tutors. This is what’s at stake with the promise of AI. However, this vision must be led and executed by founding entrepreneurs who put everything on the line to challenge the status quo, like Sam Altman. These founders face risks head-on and are focused on making the world a better place. While things can go wrong and abuse may occur, the benefits of good founders far outweigh the risks of bad ones.