Apple and Microsoft drop OpenAI board seats amid antitrust scrutiny

Fearing increased antitrust scrutiny, both Apple and Microsoft are distancing themselves from OpenAI. Microsoft vacated its observer seat on the board, and Apple has now opted not to take up a similar position.

Camilla Hodgson and George Hammond for Financial Times:
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Microsoft, which has invested $13bn in the maker of the generative AI chatbot ChatGPT, said in a letter to OpenAI that its withdrawal from its board role would be “effective immediately”.

Apple had also been expected to take an observer role on OpenAI’s board as part of a deal to integrate ChatGPT into the iPhone maker’s devices, but would not do so, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter.

OpenAI would instead host regular meetings with partners such as Microsoft and Apple and investors Thrive Capital and Khosla Ventures — part of “a new approach to informing and engaging key strategic partners” under Sarah Friar, the former Nextdoor boss who was hired as its first chief financial officer last month, an OpenAI spokesperson said.

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MacDailyNews Note: OpenAI is governed by the board of the OpenAI Nonprofit, currently comprised of Independent Directors Bret Taylor (Chair), Sam Altman, Adam D’Angelo, Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann, Retired U.S. Army General Paul M. Nakasone, Nicole Seligman, Fidji Simo, and Larry Summers.
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