Subscribe
About

Microsoft exec takes up OpenAI observer position

Staff Writer
By Staff Writer, ITWeb
Johannesburg, 08 Jan 2024
Microsoft’s Dee Templeton has already begun attending OpenAI board meetings.
Microsoft’s Dee Templeton has already begun attending OpenAI board meetings.

Microsoft's executive Dee Templeton has joined OpenAI’s board as a non-voting observer as part of a broader boardroom revamp.

This is according to a report by Reuters, which notes that the move is line with OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s reinstatement to his role late last year.

Agreeing to partly reconstitute the board of directors that had dismissed Altman, OpenAI said Bret Taylor, formerly co-CEO of Salesforce, and Larry Summers, former US Treasury Secretary, along with Quora CEO and current director Adam D'Angelo, would be part of the board.

Reuters reports the observer position means Microsoft's representative can attend OpenAI's board meetings and access confidential information, but Microsoft does not have voting rights on matters including electing or choosing directors.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Templeton’s experience at the tech giant spans 25 years. She is currently vice president for technology and research partnerships and operations for the company. She is also an advisor to CTO and EVP of AI, Kevin Scott.

Templeton has reportedly already begun attending OpenAI board meetings.

Meanwhile, OpenAI's GPT store will launch next week, according to GlobalData.

This follows a series of setbacks, including the firing and subsequent rehiring of Altman.

OpenAI initially announced plans for the online store at its developer conference in November. The ChatGPT-maker is allowing users to create GPTs, or custom chatbots, for various purposes without requiring coding skills.

The GPTs, or generative pre-trained transformers, represent early iterations of AI assistants designed to execute various real-world tasks, including making flight bookings on behalf of users.

Share