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By Mandy Taheri
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Edward Snowden wrote on social media to his nearly 6 million followers, "Do not ever trust @OpenAI ... You have been warned," following the appointment of retired U.S. Army General Paul Nakasone to the board of the artificial intelligence technology company.
Snowden, a former National Security Agency (NSA) subcontractor, was charged with espionage by the Justice Department in 2013 after leaking thousands of top-secret records, exposing the agency's surveillance of private citizens' information.
He remains a polarizing figure, with some praising his work as a whistleblower revealing surveillance and intelligence collection practices, while others say he threatened national security and is a traitor. Since the leak, he has lived in Russia and received Russian citizenship in 2022.
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In a Friday morning post on X, formerly Twitter, Snowden reshared a post providing information on OpenAI's newest board member. Nakasone is a former NSA director, and the longest-serving leader of the U.S. Cyber Command and chief of the Central Security Service. He retired from the NSA, a position he held since 2018, in February.
"As a first priority, Nakasone will join the Board's Safety and Security Committee," the OpenAI announcement reads. OpenAI is known for its widely used artificial intelligence product, ChatGPT. Earlier this week, the company, led by Sam Altman, announced a partnership with Apple, writing in a news release, "Apple is integrating ChatGPT into experiences within iOS, iPadOS, and macOS, allowing users to access ChatGPT's capabilities—including image and document understanding—without needing to jump between tools."
According to the OpenAI website, the board is composed of three people: Bret Taylor, Larry Summers and Adam D'Angelo. As a board member, "Nakasone's insights will also contribute to OpenAI's efforts to better understand how AI can be used to strengthen cybersecurity by quickly detecting and responding to cybersecurity threats," the announcement said.
In the statement, Nakasone said, "OpenAI's dedication to its mission aligns closely with my own values and experience in public service. I look forward to contributing to OpenAI's efforts to ensure artificial general intelligence is safe and beneficial to people around the world."
In response to the news, Snowden wrote in an X post, "They've gone full mask-off: do not ever trust @OpenAI or its products (ChatGPT etc.) 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." He concluded the post, writing, "You have been warned."
Snowden's post has received widespread attention, with nearly 2 million views, 43,500 likes, 16,000 reposts and around 1,000 comments as of Friday afternoon.
Newsweek reached out to OpenAI's press team, Vanderbilt University's communications team—where Nakasone directs the Institute for National Defense and Global Security— and Snowden via email for comment on Friday afternoon.
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