Edward Snowden, the whistleblower known for exposing the NSA’s surveillance activities, has issued a stark warning against OpenAI following the appointment of retired U.S. Army General Paul Nakasone to the AI company’s board. Snowden took to social media, urging his nearly 6 million followers, “Do not ever trust @OpenAI … You have been warned.”
OpenAI announced Nakasone’s appointment, citing his expertise in cybersecurity as a crucial asset to protect the company from “increasingly sophisticated bad actors.” Nakasone, who led the U.S. Cyber Command and served as NSA director, joins OpenAI’s safety and security committee to advise on critical safety and security decisions.
Snowden, a former NSA subcontractor charged with espionage in 2013 after leaking top-secret records, has remained a controversial figure. His actions revealed extensive surveillance of private citizens’ information by the NSA, earning him both praise as a whistleblower and condemnation as a traitor. He has lived in Russia since the leak and obtained Russian citizenship in 2022.
Nakasone’s appointment comes as OpenAI continues to restructure its leadership following significant upheaval last year, which saw the abrupt firing and subsequent reinstatement of CEO Sam Altman. The reformed board, now including Nakasone, is expected to bolster OpenAI’s cybersecurity capabilities.
Snowden’s criticism centered on the implications of having a former NSA director involved with a major AI firm. He suggested that Nakasone’s appointment represents a betrayal of public trust and privacy rights. “There is only one reason for appointing an @NSAGov Director to your board. This is a willful, calculated betrayal of the rights of every person on Earth,” Snowden asserted.
The intersection of AI with the ocean of mass surveillance data that’s been building up over the past two decades is going to put truly terrible powers in the hands of an unaccountable few. https://t.co/4qHl9LDS0N
— Edward Snowden (@Snowden) June 15, 2024
The response to Snowden’s post has been substantial, with nearly 2 million views and thousands of interactions, reflecting widespread public interest and concern. His statement underscores the ongoing debate about the intersection of AI, privacy, and security, particularly regarding the influence of former intelligence officials in the tech industry.\
Edward Snowden says just like with children, when it comes to AI we need to embrace a lack of control and seize the means of instruction to train our own models because inflexible systems and consensus opinion have always spelled doom pic.twitter.com/prgvJ1Qtcz
— Tsarathustra (@tsarnick) June 16, 2024
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