Snowden warns against OpenAI after former NSA chief joins board
OpenAI just appointed retired General Paul Nakasone, the former director of the NSA and US Cyber Command, to its board's Safety and Security Committee. While OpenAI claims his cybersecurity expertise will protect its AI supercomputers from hackers, whistleblower Edward Snowden blasted the move as a calculated betrayal and warned the public never to trust the company.
If you thought OpenAI’s board drama was officially over, think again. The company just welcomed a very unexpected new face to its highest table, and not everyone is cheering.
Retired US Army General Paul Nakasone has officially joined OpenAI’s board and its new Safety and Security Committee. Nakasone isn't just any military veteran: from 2018 until February this year, he simultaneously ran both the National Security Agency (NSA) and US Cyber Command.
OpenAI framed the move around elite defense, pointing to Nakasone’s world-class cybersecurity background to help shield massive AI training clusters, sensitive model weights, and customer data from sophisticated hackers.
Edward Snowden, however, saw it quite differently. The famous whistleblower took to X to warn the public to never trust OpenAI, calling Nakasone’s appointment a willful, calculated betrayal of the rights of every person on Earth.
Security expert Matthew Green also chimed in, noting with a dose of irony that if the ultimate application of AI turns out to be mass surveillance, putting a former NSA chief on the board makes complete sense.
Why it matters
OpenAI is moving fast to cement itself as critical national infrastructure, and bringing in Nakasone is the ultimate power play to woo Washington.
From a corporate and defense standpoint, it is a brilliant tactical maneuver. OpenAI secures top-tier defensive expertise against nation-state cyberattacks while building a direct line of trust to land lucrative government and defense contracts.
For everyday users and international businesses, though, it raises serious red flags. Tens of millions of people pour their sensitive workflows, proprietary code, and personal thoughts into ChatGPT every day. Even with user privacy toggles and opt-outs in place, OpenAI can still be legally compelled to hand over user data and IP addresses to law enforcement.
Placing the recent head of the world's most sophisticated surveillance apparatus on the board makes user trust much harder to maintain. If you are feeding confidential company secrets into ChatGPT, this might be your cue to look into locally hosted open-source models.
Sources (1)
- pcmag.com(opens in a new tab)Originalpcmag.com