There’s discussion about the desirability, the imperative, to add more diversity to the OpenAI board, and the media has been discussing possible women candidates.
Fortunately there is an abundance of extraordinary people to solicit. One name I haven’t heard in the media reports but I think would be a great choice is Sheryl Sandberg.
She works well with Larry Summers and Bret Taylor (but doesn’t necessarily always agree), probably knows Adam D'Angelo, is financially independent, doesn’t need to answer to anyone yet is responsive to public sentiment, knows how to navigate morally and socially complex issues at the forefront of regulatory concern in an international context, isn’t too “academic”, knows how to address momentous issues with a driven young male founder-CEO who had humanity-scale ambitions (including when and how to say ‘no’, and when and how to steer away from the cliffs), isn’t a techie but is immersed for decades in tech at the forefront of social impact (including taking a lot of heat, and crisis management), isn’t so driven by prior engagement with AI that this will cloud thinking about the nonprofit charter/mission or be seen that she already has an ax to grind or an agenda she’s advocating, has pragmatic operational insights to offer a gigantic scaling company where content, user trust, and stewardship of personal data will be at issue, including in a context where the company has a lot of autonomy due to independence of its governing structure from outside control, has been through the ringer on user data issues in internal and external contexts, has good relationships with content providers and is aware of IP concerns, isn’t into EA nor deeply libertarian nor deeply right nor regarded as carrying water for the “far” left or woke agendas, and although a Democrat has close political right relationships including former colleagues, is probably liked and admired and disliked or at least criticized in equal measure enough to not be seen as merely a predictable voice for any one view or group, talks to Zuck (and Meta has a different philosophy about AI than OpenAI), has deep contacts at Alphabet yet was their competitor, has much of the US government and media establishment in her phone contacts yet is comfortable saying no to them, is young enough to be in it for the long haul, has insight into the human condition that comes from personal tragedy and figuring out how to make sense of a productive life afterwards, has no evident driving personal ambition for what’s next (such as to be CEO of a global company or to be a founder), except perhaps politics or to contribute to the world stage (which doesn’t seem at odds with the board’s mission and if anything is aligned), is enormously accomplished and has no chance of being seen as anything less than a huge coup and a very serious appointment — and probably many more reasons that emerge from her experience that aren’t obvious to me.
It would be great to have some folks who aren’t white, who aren’t American, and who embody more of the full range of humanity’s experiences and ambitions and values. But hopefully there are more board slots to come, and Sheryl Sandberg definitely would fit the bill for what’s needed now.