Ret. U.S. Army general and former National Security Agency (NSA) head Paul M. Nakasone is joining the board of directors of OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT, and some left-leaning civil liberties advocates are concerned because Nakasone was appointed to his NSA position by former President Trump.
Before leaving the NSA, Nakasone wrote an op-ed advocating for the renewal of Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA). That key provision is what the U.S. government uses as an excuse to illegally spy on Americans without a warrant whenever they communicate with non-citizens in a foreign country.
To put it plainly, Nakasone is a nightmare for the Constitution that Trump, in pandering to his followers and worshippers, claims to respect and promote. Actions speak louder than words, though, and Trump's words, like with most all other politicians, rarely match his actions.
While promising to "drain the swamp," Trump was busy appointing people like Nakasone to key deep state positions where they constantly weasel their way into new deep state positions, in this case on the board of OpenAI.
(Related: Check out our earlier coverage about the nightmare dystopian future that has fast become the dystopian present.)
AI will keep the internet "safe" and "secure"
Nakasone's job description on OpenAI's "Safety and Security Committee" will include helping the company better learn how to incorporate artificial intelligence (AI) into its various cybersecurity efforts, including how to detect and respond to cybersecurity threats.
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The timing of Nakasone's appointment at OpenAI is interesting considering the mass exodus of employees that is taking place at the company right now amid growing safety concerns.
OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever just left, and he was involved in what The National Pulse describes as "the contentious firing and reinstatement of CEO Sam Altman back in November.
According to Jan Leike, the "safety culture and processes" at OpenAI "have taken a backseat to shiny products." And one of those shiny products is apparently Nakasone, a Trump appointee who will help OpenAI to better insert AI robots into its entire cybersecurity structure and framework.
"Artificial intelligence has the potential to have huge positive impacts on people's lives, but it can only meet this potential if these innovations are securely built and deployed," commented Bret Taylor, OpenAI's current board chair, about the significance of "secure innovation" in AI.
Taylor would add concerning Nakasone that his extensive experience in cybersecurity will help OpenAI to accomplish its mission of ensuring that AI is only beneficial to humanity and never harmful.
According to Altman, OpenAI could soon become a for-profit corporation, meaning its non-profit board would no longer have any control over it.
Rivals Anthropic and xAI already have a for-profit benefit corporation structure that Altman apparently wants to mimic, though the plan is still fluid and up for debate. With Nakasone now on the board, the direction of OpenAI could change at a whim.
When Reuters asked OpenAI about these and other statements about the company's possible change of direction, a representative said that OpenAI will "remain focused on building AI that benefits everyone," adding that "the nonprofit is core to our mission and will continue to exist."
"Nakasone was already leading the Army branch of U.S. Cyber Command when then-President Donald Trump in 2018 picked him to be director of the NSA, one of the nation's top intelligence posts, and head of U.S. Cyber Command," reports Inc.com.
"He maintained the dual roles when President Joe Biden took office in 2021. He retired in February."
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