When ChatGPT came out, November 2022, the board was not informed in advance about that. We learned about ChatGPT on Twitter.
Several sources have suggested that the ChatGPT release was not expected to be a big deal. Internally, ChatGPT was framed as a “low-key research preview”. From The Atlantic:
The company pressed forward and launched ChatGPT on November 30. It was such a low-key event that many employees who weren’t directly involved, including those in safety functions, didn’t even realize it had happened. Some of those who were aware, according to one employee, had started a betting pool, wagering how many people might use the tool during its first week. The highest guess was 100,000 users.
If that’s true, then perhaps it wasn’t ex ante above the bar to report to the board.
I think what would be more helpful for me is the other things discussed in board meetings. Even if GPT was not expected to be a big deal, if they were (hyperbolic example) for example discussing whether to have a coffee machine at the office, I think not mentioning ChatGPT would be striking. On the other hand, if they only met once a year and only discussed e.g. if they are financially viable or not, then perhaps not mentioning ChatGPT makes more sense. And maybe even this is not enough—it would also be concerning if some board members wanted more info, but did not get it. If a board member requested more info on prod dev and then ChatGPT was not mentioned, this would also look bad. I think the context and the particulars of this particular board is important.
From the interview:
Several sources have suggested that the ChatGPT release was not expected to be a big deal. Internally, ChatGPT was framed as a “low-key research preview”. From The Atlantic:
If that’s true, then perhaps it wasn’t ex ante above the bar to report to the board.
Andrew Mayne points out that “the base model for ChatGPT (GPT 3.5) had been publicly available via the API since March 2022”.
I think what would be more helpful for me is the other things discussed in board meetings. Even if GPT was not expected to be a big deal, if they were (hyperbolic example) for example discussing whether to have a coffee machine at the office, I think not mentioning ChatGPT would be striking. On the other hand, if they only met once a year and only discussed e.g. if they are financially viable or not, then perhaps not mentioning ChatGPT makes more sense. And maybe even this is not enough—it would also be concerning if some board members wanted more info, but did not get it. If a board member requested more info on prod dev and then ChatGPT was not mentioned, this would also look bad. I think the context and the particulars of this particular board is important.