People on Twitter are making degrading memes of her and posting weird, creepy, harassing comments like this: “Why does Helen Toner have shelf tits” https://x.com/smolfeelshaver/status/1726073304136450511?s=46
Search for “Helen Toner” on Twitter and you will see she is being singled out for bullying by a bunch of weird creepy white dudes who I guess apparently work in tech.
> I think the AI safety community is a little early and notoriety therein probably isn’t sufficient to qualify somebody to direct an $80 bn company.
Normally you’d be right. In the specific case of OpenAI, however, their charter requires safety to be the number one priority of their directors, higher than making money or providing stable employment or anything else that a large company normally prioritizes. This is from OpenAI’s site:
“each director must perform their fiduciary duties in furtherance of its mission—safe AGI that is broadly beneficial” https://openai.com/our-structure
If you want to be the titan of an industry and do things that put you at the center of media attention, you have to expect comments of this kind and not be surprised when they happen. Whether you are a man, a woman or anybody else.
If you don't expect "not very nice" or ambivalent reactions from people, you are an amateur and you shouldn't be in the board of such a prominent company.
Of course you have to be competent on the subject matter, work hard, iterate and have luck.
annnnd you just shredded your credibility with some casual bigotry
I'm not sure where I am on the creepy scale but I'm happy to hate on him because I really don't think he should be anywhere near that board. And yes, Helen Toner does have a claim. Not sure about the level of experience in the typical role of a board member but plenty of cred when it comes to the subject matter.
So these three plus Mira Murati make 4 for 4 hot women governing OpenAI. I'm not a Data Scientist but that's a pattern. Not one ugly woman who has a concept of AI governance? Not one single George Elliot-looking genius?
> weird creepy white dudes…
This is racism. And sexist. How do you know it’s white people or dudes?
Women are socially allowed to use artificial means to greatly improve their appearance. I'm referring to makeup and expensive hair treatments. Women from upper-middle or upper classes have even more of an advantage in using these. So if you're a thin woman, unless you were unlucky enough to be born disfigured, you're a single afternoon away of looking like a movie star.
If Sam Altman was socially allowed to wear makeup and a wig, you'd call him a heartthrob.
Are you claiming that physical appearance has nothing to do with politics, or that we just shouldn't comment on it?
I think it's pretty obvious that the OpenAI men aren't too attractive by most standards, as opposed to say US presidents, who are mostly sexually attractive.