It's important that the board be relatively independent and able to fire the CEO if he attempts to deviate from the mission.
I was a bit alarmed by the allegations in this article
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/21/technology/openai-altman-...
Saying that Sam tried to have Helen Toner removed which precipitated this fight. The CEO should not be allowed to try and orchestrate their own board as that would remove all checks against their decisions.
Who knows.
> and to what degree will this new board be committed to the Open AI charter vs being Sam/MSFT allies.
I'm guessing "zero". The faction that opposed OpenAI being a figleaf nonprofit covering a functional subsidiary of Microsoft lost when basically the entire workforce said they would go to Microsoft for real if OpenAI didn't surrender.
> I think having Sam return as CEO is a good outcome for OpenAI
Its a good result for investors in OpenAI Global LLC and the holding company that holds a majority stake in it.
The nonprofit will probably hang around because there are some complexities in unwinding it, and the pretext of an independent (of Microsoft) safety-oriented nonprofit is useful in covering lobbying for a regulatory regime that puts speedbumps in the way of any up-and-coming competitors as being safety-oriented public interest, but for no other reason.