I find it a weird thing to choose to say/emphasize.
The issue under discussion isn’t whether Altman hid things from the new board; it’s whether he hid things to the old board a long while ago.
Of course he’s going to seem forthcoming towards the new board at first. So, the new board having the impression that he was forthcoming towards them? This isn’t information that helps us much in assessing whether to side with Altman vs the old board. That makes me think: why report on it? It would be a more relevant update if Taylor or Summers were willing to stick their necks out a little further and say something stronger and more direct, something more in the direction of (hypothetically), “In all our by-now extensive interactions with Altman, we got the sense that he’s the sort of person you can trust; in fact, he had surprisingly circumspect and credible things to say about what happened, and he seems self-aware about things that he could’ve done better (and those things seem comparatively small or at least very understandable).” If they had added something like that, it would have been more interesting and surprising. (At least for those who are currently skeptical or outright negative towards Altman; but also “surprising” in terms of “nice, the new board is really invested in forming their own views here!”).
By contrast, this combination of basically defending Altman (and implying pretty negative things about Toner and McCauley’s objectivity and their judgment on things that they deem fair to tell the media), but doing so without sticking their necks out, makes me worried that the board is less invested in outcomes and more invested in playing their role. By “not sticking their necks out,” I mean the outsourcing of judgment-forming to the independent investigation and the mentioning of clearly unsurprising and not-very-relevant things like whether Altman has been forthcoming to them, so far. By “less invested in outcomes and more invested in playing their role,” I mean the possibility that the new board maybe doesn’t consider it important to form opinions at the object level (on Altman’s character and his suitability for OpenAI’s mission, and generally them having a burning desire to make the best CEO-related decisions). Instead, the alternative mode they could be in would be having in mind a specific “role” that board members play, which includes things like, e.g., “check whether Altman ever gets caught doing something outrageous,” “check if he passes independent legal reviews,” or “check if Altman’s answers seem reassuring when we occasionally ask him critical questions.” And then, that’s it, job done. If that’s the case, I think that’d be super unfortunate. The more important the org, the more it matters to have a engaged/invested board that considers itself ultimately responsible for CEO-related outcomes (“will history look back favorably on their choices regarding the CEO”).
To sum up, I’d have much preferred it if their comments had either included them sticking their neck out a little more, or if I had gotten from them more of a sense of still withholding judgment. I think the latter would have been possible even in combination with still reminding the public that Altman (e.g.,) passed that independent investigation or that some of the old board members’ claims against him seem thinly supported, etc. (If that’s their impression, fair enough.) For instance, it’s perfectly possible to say something like, “In our duty as board members, we haven’t noticed anything unusual or worrisome, but we’ll continue to keep our eyes open.” That’s admittedly pretty similar, in substance, to what they actually said. Still, it would read as a lot more reassuring to me because of its different emphasis My alternative phrasing would help convey that (1) they don’t naively believe that Altman – in worlds where he is dodgy – would have likely already given things away easily in interactions towards them, and (2) that they consider themselves responsible for the outcome (and not just following of the common procedures) of whether OpenAI will be led well and in line with its mission. (Maybe they do in fact have these views, 1 and 2, but didn’t do a good job here at reassuring me of that.)
That’s exactly the line that made my heart sink.
I find it a weird thing to choose to say/emphasize.
The issue under discussion isn’t whether Altman hid things from the new board; it’s whether he hid things to the old board a long while ago.
Of course he’s going to seem forthcoming towards the new board at first. So, the new board having the impression that he was forthcoming towards them? This isn’t information that helps us much in assessing whether to side with Altman vs the old board. That makes me think: why report on it? It would be a more relevant update if Taylor or Summers were willing to stick their necks out a little further and say something stronger and more direct, something more in the direction of (hypothetically), “In all our by-now extensive interactions with Altman, we got the sense that he’s the sort of person you can trust; in fact, he had surprisingly circumspect and credible things to say about what happened, and he seems self-aware about things that he could’ve done better (and those things seem comparatively small or at least very understandable).” If they had added something like that, it would have been more interesting and surprising. (At least for those who are currently skeptical or outright negative towards Altman; but also “surprising” in terms of “nice, the new board is really invested in forming their own views here!”).
By contrast, this combination of basically defending Altman (and implying pretty negative things about Toner and McCauley’s objectivity and their judgment on things that they deem fair to tell the media), but doing so without sticking their necks out, makes me worried that the board is less invested in outcomes and more invested in playing their role. By “not sticking their necks out,” I mean the outsourcing of judgment-forming to the independent investigation and the mentioning of clearly unsurprising and not-very-relevant things like whether Altman has been forthcoming to them, so far. By “less invested in outcomes and more invested in playing their role,” I mean the possibility that the new board maybe doesn’t consider it important to form opinions at the object level (on Altman’s character and his suitability for OpenAI’s mission, and generally them having a burning desire to make the best CEO-related decisions). Instead, the alternative mode they could be in would be having in mind a specific “role” that board members play, which includes things like, e.g., “check whether Altman ever gets caught doing something outrageous,” “check if he passes independent legal reviews,” or “check if Altman’s answers seem reassuring when we occasionally ask him critical questions.” And then, that’s it, job done. If that’s the case, I think that’d be super unfortunate. The more important the org, the more it matters to have a engaged/invested board that considers itself ultimately responsible for CEO-related outcomes (“will history look back favorably on their choices regarding the CEO”).
To sum up, I’d have much preferred it if their comments had either included them sticking their neck out a little more, or if I had gotten from them more of a sense of still withholding judgment. I think the latter would have been possible even in combination with still reminding the public that Altman (e.g.,) passed that independent investigation or that some of the old board members’ claims against him seem thinly supported, etc. (If that’s their impression, fair enough.) For instance, it’s perfectly possible to say something like, “In our duty as board members, we haven’t noticed anything unusual or worrisome, but we’ll continue to keep our eyes open.” That’s admittedly pretty similar, in substance, to what they actually said. Still, it would read as a lot more reassuring to me because of its different emphasis My alternative phrasing would help convey that (1) they don’t naively believe that Altman – in worlds where he is dodgy – would have likely already given things away easily in interactions towards them, and (2) that they consider themselves responsible for the outcome (and not just following of the common procedures) of whether OpenAI will be led well and in line with its mission.
(Maybe they do in fact have these views, 1 and 2, but didn’t do a good job here at reassuring me of that.)