OpenAI taps ex-NSA chief Nakasone for safety board

OpenAI is forming a new internal safety committee as it kicks off training for what it calls its “next frontier model,” a system the company expects will mark a significant step toward artificial general intelligence. The move comes with a notable personnel announcement: Retired U.S. Army General and former NSA Director Paul M. Nakasone has joined the board and will sit on the new committee.

The Safety and Security Committee is chaired by board director Bret Taylor and includes Adam D’Angelo, Nicole Seligman, and CEO Sam Altman. The executive team is stacked with technical heavyweights too — Head of Preparedness Aleksander Madry, Head of Safety Systems Lilian Weng, Head of Alignment Science John Schulman, Head of Security Matt Knight, and Chief Scientist Jakub Pachocki. That’s a lot of firepower in one room, and it signals that safety is being taken seriously at the highest levels, at least structurally.

The committee’s first job is a 90-day sprint to evaluate and strengthen OpenAI’s processes and safeguards across all projects. After that, they’ll deliver recommendations to the full board. OpenAI says it will publicly share which recommendations get adopted, though the announcement is careful to note this will be done “in a manner that is consistent with safety and security” — which could mean we won’t get the full picture. The company is also bringing in outside cybersecurity muscle, including former White House cyber official Rob Joyce and John Carlin, to consult on the effort.

It’s an interesting moment for this kind of governance theater. OpenAI says it welcomes “a robust debate,” and with Nakasone’s intelligence background now in the mix, that debate likely includes threat models most AI labs haven’t spent much time on. Whether this committee has real teeth or just drafts recommendations that gather dust remains the question. Ninety days isn’t long, but with a new frontier model already in training, the clock is ticking loudly.