As the first venture investor in OpenAI, I have seen firsthand how the wrong board can damage a company. The recent drama surrounding the organization highlighted my belief that fancy titles like “Director of Strategy at Georgetown’s Center for Security and Emerging Technology” can create a false sense of understanding about the complex process of entrepreneurial innovation.
The misapplication of OpenAI’s board members’ religion of “effective altruism” could have set back the world’s progress towards tremendous benefits from artificial intelligence. With AI, we could imagine a world where everyone has access to free doctors and tutors, transforming education and healthcare globally.
In my experience, the best companies are those led and executed by their founding entrepreneurs, who put everything on the line to challenge the status quo and make the world a better place. While there is always a risk involved in starting a business, good founders far outweigh any potential drawbacks.