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OpenAI has appointed Paul M. Nakasone, a retired general of the US Army and a former head of the National Security Agency (NSA), to its board of directors, the company announced on Thursday<\/a>. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n Nakasone, who was nominated to lead the NSA<\/a> by former President Donald Trump, directed the agency from 2018 until February of this year. Before Nakasone left the NSA, he wrote an op-ed<\/a> supporting the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, the surveillance program that was ultimately reauthorized by Congress in April<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n OpenAI says Nakasone will join its Safety and Security Committee, which was announced in May<\/a> and is led by CEO Sam Altman, \u201cas a first priority.\u201d Nakasone will \u201calso contribute to OpenAI\u2019s efforts to better understand how AI can be used to strengthen cybersecurity by quickly detecting and responding to cybersecurity threats.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Recent departures tied to safety at OpenAI include co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever<\/a>, who played a key role in Sam Altman\u2019s November firing<\/a> and eventual un-firing, and Jan Leike<\/a>, who said on X<\/a> that \u201csafety culture and processes have taken a backseat to shiny products.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n \u201cArtificial intelligence has the potential to have huge positive impacts on people\u2019s lives, but it can only meet this potential if these innovations are securely built and deployed,\u201c board chair Bret Taylor said in a statement. \u201cGeneral Nakasone\u2019s unparalleled experience in areas like cybersecurity will help guide OpenAI in achieving its mission of ensuring artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n