OpenAI appointed Zico Kolter, professor and director of the machine learning department at Carnegie Mellon University, to its board, the Microsoft-backed AI startup said on Thursday.
The ChatGPT maker's board of directors has undergone several changes amid rising concerns over the safety of generative artificial intelligence as more businesses rush to adopt the booming technology.
Kolter, whose work predominantly focuses on AI safety, will also join OpenAI board's safety and security committee, alongside CEO Sam Altman and directors Bret Taylor, Adam D'Angelo, Paul Nakasone and Nicole Seligman, the company said.
The safety committee, set up in May, makes recommendations on safety and security decisions for all of OpenAI's projects.
OpenAI's chatbots with genAI capabilities such as engaging in human-like conversations and creating images based on text prompts have stirred safety concerns as AI models become powerful.
Kolter, formerly the chief data scientist at C3.ai, currently serves as the chief expert at Bosch and chief technical adviser at Gray Swan – a startup specializing in AI safety and security.
In 2023, Kolter contributed to developing methods for automatically assessing the safety of large language models, demonstrating the potential to bypass existing model safeguards, according to OpenAI's blogpost.
Microsoft had given up its board observer seat at OpenAI in July, in a move aimed at easing U.S. and UK antitrust regulators' concerns about the extent of its control over the startup amid growing genAI adoption.
