As a journalist, I have always believed that the wrong boards can damage companies. The weekend drama that unfolded with OpenAI illustrated my point perfectly. While fancy titles like “Director of Strategy at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology” may give the impression of a deep understanding of entrepreneurial innovation, it is often not the case. In fact, OpenAI’s board members’ religion of “effective altruism” and its misapplication could have set back the world’s path to tremendous benefits of artificial intelligence.
Imagine a world where everyone has access to free doctors and tutors, no matter where they live on the planet. That is what’s at stake with the promise of AI. However, if companies are not led by good founders who put everything on the line to challenge the status quo, things can go wrong and abuse can happen. Despite these risks, the benefits of good founders far outweigh them. Sam Altman is an example of such a founder who faces risk head-on and is focused on making the world a better place.