Involvement in Critical Corporate Governance Failure at OpenAI (critical) Helen Toner was one of four board members who voted to remove CEO Sam Altman on November 17, 2023, leading to a chaotic five-day corporate crisis and her subsequent removal/resignation from the board on November 21, 2023.. Public Allegations of CEO Deceit and Misrepresentation of Safety Processes (high) Toner publicly claimed in a May 2024 podcast that former CEO Sam Altman had misled the board 'on multiple occasions,' including withholding information, misrepresenting safety processes, and 'outright lying to the board' for years, hindering the board's oversight function.. Failure to Inform Board of Major Product Launch (ChatGPT) (high) Toner specifically claimed that the OpenAI board was not informed in advance about the launch of ChatGPT in November 2022 and found out about its release via Twitter.. Undisclosed Conflict of Interest Regarding Startup Fund (high) Toner alleged that Sam Altman failed to inform the board that he owned the OpenAI Startup Fund, a venture capital fund over which he made management decisions, despite claiming to be an 'independent board member with no financial interest in the company.'. Internal Conflict over Public Research Paper (medium) Toner co-authored a paper, 'Artificial Intelligence and Costly Signals' (October 2023), which criticized OpenAI's safety efforts while praising rival Anthropic. This paper was a source of tension, and Altman reportedly tried to push Toner out of the board following its publication.. Allegation of Intimidation by Company Counsel (medium) Toner claimed that an unnamed OpenAI lawyer attempted to pressure her into reversing the decision to fire Altman by suggesting the board's action might result in the company's downfall, and that she would be in breach of her fiduciary duties if she did not immediately resign.