As the firm launches technologies that might upend industries, Sam Altman’s return to the CEO position at OpenAI will likely tighten his hold on the company and reduce the number of checks on his authority, according to analysts and specialists in corporate governance.

Only a few days after being fired, Altman is returning to OpenAI, and the company has a new board in place. This could mean that the firm at the centre of the AI boom will come under more scrutiny, but Microsoft and other investors’ strong support may offer Altman greater freedom to commercialise the technology.

“Sam’s return may put an end to the turmoil on the surface, but there may continue to be deep governance issues,” said Mak Yuen Teen, director of the centre for investor protection at the National University of Singapore Business School.

“Altman seems awfully powerful and it is unclear that any board would be able to oversee him. The danger is the board becomes a rubber stamp,” he said.

The new board of OpenAI will have deep connections to Wall Street and the US government, as well as more senior level experience.

The board named an interim CEO twice in an effort to move on after firing Altman last week with little to no explanation. Nevertheless, Altman was reinstated as of Wednesday as a result of pressure from Microsoft and the 38-year-old’s strong loyalty among the more than 700 OpenAI staff, which nearly all of them threatened to leave the firm.

“Altman has been invigorated by the last few days,” GlobalData analyst Beatriz Valle said. But that could come at a cost, she said, adding that he has “too much power now.”

The board will be chaired by Bret Taylor, a former co-CEO of Salesforce who was instrumental in pushing through Elon Musk’s $44 billion acquisition of Twitter as a director.

Among the other members is Larry Summers, a Harvard professor and a former U.S. Treasury Secretary who has historically supported Democratic presidents economically.

“The fact that Summers and Taylor will join OpenAI is quite extraordinary and marks a dramatic reversal of fortunes in the company,” Valle said.

Summers has been vocal in recent months about the possible disruption and loss of jobs that artificial intelligence (AI) may bring about. Summers is also a board member of Jack Dorsey’s finance company, Block.

“ChatGPT is coming for the cognitive class. It’s going to replace what doctors do,” he said in a post on X in April.

Entrepreneur Tasha McCauley, OpenAI head scientist Ilya Sutskever, director of strategy at Georgetown’s Centre for Security and Emerging Technology Helen Toner, and Quora CEO Adam D’Angelo were all members of the organization’s prior board.

Sutskever was among the other directors who participated in the attempt to remove Altman and later signed an employee letter requesting his return, apologising for her “participation in the board’s actions.” It was unclear at first who other directors would stay on.

“Collaborating to figure out the details” of the new board was what OpenAI on X claimed to be doing.

There were no comments from Microsoft, Summers, and OpenAI as well as Sutskever, Altman, and Taylor.

According to some observers, the management disaster will make sure that OpenAI leaders move cautiously going forward because the once-high-flying startup will now be being watched. Several pointed out that, in spite of worries about corporate governance, businesses like Facebook parent Meta have prospered under the leadership of a strong CEO.

“Sam definitely comes out stronger but also dirtied and will have more of a microscope from the AI and broader tech and business community,” Gartner analyst Jason Wong said. “He can no longer do no wrong.”

(Adapted from NewsWav.com)