{"id":64571,"date":"2026-05-10T05:38:11","date_gmt":"2026-05-10T05:38:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/64571\/"},"modified":"2026-05-10T05:38:11","modified_gmt":"2026-05-10T05:38:11","slug":"former-openai-board-members-describe-extremely-risky-near-merger-with-anthropic-2","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/64571\/","title":{"rendered":"Former OpenAI board members describe \u2018extremely risky\u2019 near-merger with Anthropic"},"content":{"rendered":"

OAKLAND, CALIF. \u2014 Former OpenAI board member Helen Toner shed new light on just how close the company came to a shotgun merger with arch-rival Anthropic in the chaotic aftermath of CEO Sam Altman\u2019s firing in November 2023 \u2013 calling such a deal an \u201cextremely risky move.\u201d<\/p>\n

In video testimony played Thursday in federal court in Oakland, Calif., for Elon Musk\u2019s bombshell lawsuit against OpenAI<\/a>, Toner recounted a late Sunday night call with Anthropic board members including the firm\u2019s CEO Dario Amodei to discuss the merger proposal \u2014 under which Amodei would have ended up helming OpenAI, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cI thought it was an option worth considering among our set of difficult options,\u201d Toner said, adding that OpenAI\u2019s entire executive team was threatening at the time to resign over Altman\u2019s ouster. That made her view the prospect of a merger, which never came to pass, as a perilous one.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Former OpenAI board member Helen Toner. REUTERS<\/p>\n

OpenAI\u2019s head of technology Mira Murati had been expected to step in to stabilize the firm but soon became \u201cunwilling\u201d to serve as interim CEO, according to Toner. That forced the board to consider more extreme options to \u201csalvage the company,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

In previously shared testimony, Toner described Murati as two-faced about Altman\u2019s firing.<\/p>\n

\u201cShe was waiting to see which way the wind would blow,\u201d Toner said in comments played in court Wednesday, adding that Murati was \u201cnot willing to stick her neck out\u201d and implied she was worried about \u201cblowback for her career.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

Tasha McCauley, another former OpenAI board member who testified via video Thursday, said Murati got cold feet about running the company after employees revolted over the board\u2019s decision to fire Altman. McCauley said Altman and fellow co-founder Ilya Sutskever had gotten the rank-and-file on their side by saying an \u201cevil coup\u201d was occurring, sparking fear throughout the company.<\/p>\n

In her own video testimony shared earlier this week in court, Murati said: \u201cOpenAI was at catastrophic risk of falling apart. I was concerned about the company completely blowing up.\u201d<\/p>\n

She added that her decisions in the wake of Altman\u2019s ouster were intended to help preserve the company.<\/p>\n

After Altman\u2019s ouster, some 700 of the company\u2019s 800 employees signed a letter denouncing the move, according to McCauley. OpenAI\u2019s President Greg Brockman resigned in protest, though both execs later came back.<\/p>\n

The details came in the second week of the bombshell trial in which Musk has accused Altman and Brockman of betraying the company\u2019s founding contract<\/a> by putting commercial gain over creating AI for the benefit of humanity. The ChatGPT maker has called the allegations baseless, claiming Musk actually supported its transformation into a for-profit business.<\/p>\n

The world\u2019s richest man is seeking up to $180 billion in damages and a court order for OpenAI to unwind its for-profit status. Musk also wants Altman booted from the board.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. REUTERS<\/p>\n

In her video testimony, McCauley said that Murati had been communicating with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, whose preference was for \u201cthings to go back to the way they were.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n

McCauley was the latest witness to slam Altman\u2019s character, saying he habitually lied and engaged in \u201cdishonest or problematic behavior.\u201d Every few months, there were crisis events \u201cmostly stemming from Sam\u2019s behavior,\u201d McCauley testified.\u00a0<\/p>\n

She discussed screenshots of messages showing that Altman communicated to another employee that OpenAI\u2019s legal department had said a version of ChatGPT under development didn\u2019t need to go through a safety review \u2014 though the legal department had not in fact said that, according to McCauley.\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

The incident caused further concern that the board \u201cwould not be able to oversee the for-profit and that could impair safety,\u201d McCauley said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Rosie Campbell, a former policy researcher at OpenAI. Getty Images<\/p>\n

In cross-examination of McCauley, OpenAI lawyer William Savitt said the version of ChatGPT mentioned in the exchange just an extension of a previous ChatGPT product that had gone through a safety review.\u00a0<\/p>\n

McCauley\u2019s criticism echoed testimony from ex-OpenAI employees like Murati, who testified earlier this week that \u00a0Altman was an untrustworthy leader who fomented strife among the company\u2019s top ranks.<\/p>\n

McCauley said managers began mimicking Altman\u2019s dishonest behavior, creating a \u201ctoxic culture.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

Also testifying Thursday was Rosie Campbell, a former policy researcher at OpenAI, who took aim at safety issues. She said the company disbanded top AI safety teams as it drifted away from its non-profit mission.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OAKLAND, CALIF. \u2014 Former OpenAI board member Helen Toner shed new light on just how close the company…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":64572,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[150],"tags":[28399,202,36682,21303,613,581,36683,37960],"class_list":{"0":"post-64571","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sam-altman","8":"tag-board-member","9":"tag-elon-musk","10":"tag-helen-toner","11":"tag-mira-murati","12":"tag-openai","13":"tag-sam-altman","14":"tag-tasha-mccauley","15":"tag-video-testimony"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@people\/116548672356899376","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64571","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=64571"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/64571\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/64572"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=64571"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=64571"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/people\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=64571"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}