Helen Toner

Fonctions

1. 2018 – 2018Research Affiliate, Centre for the Governance of AI, University of OxfordSpent nine months in Beijing studying China's AI ecosystem.Source →
2. janv. 2019 – mars 2022Director of Strategy, Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), Georgetown UniversitySource →
3. 2021 – 21 nov. 2023Board member, OpenAIOne of the four directors who removed Sam Altman on 17 November 2023; left the board in the deal that reinstated him.Source →
4. mars 2022 – sept. 2025Director of Strategy and Foundational Research Grants, Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), Georgetown UniversitySource →
5. 2 sept. 2025 – aujourd’huiExecutive Director (interim from September 2025), Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), Georgetown UniversityNamed Interim Executive Director on 26 August 2025; her CSET staff page now lists her as Executive Director, though the April 2026 Senate testimony still used "Interim".Source →

Au registre

1. 18 août 2026 · Podcast · The Ezra Klein Show, The New York Times

   Our techniques for making A.I. that is more capable, smarter, more sophisticated, are working much better than our techniques for making A.I. that reliably does what we want it to do and reliably stays within the constraints we've set.

   Executive Director (interim from September 2025), Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), Georgetown University à l’époque

   Quoted on CSET's page for the episode; the NYT page itself was not fetched.

   The A.I.s Are Already Out of Control →

2. 22 avr. 2026 · Audition · US Senate Committee on the Judiciary

   I think it is very important that the U.S. AI sector remains ahead of the Chinese AI sector, but if that's at the expense of AI overrunning the entire planet, then that hasn't benefitted us.

   Executive Director (interim from September 2025), Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), Georgetown University à l’époque

   Hearing "Stealth Stealing: China's Ongoing Theft of U.S. Innovation"; she also said that right now "the winner of any AI race between the U.S. and China is the AI".

   CSET Director Helen Toner Testifies Before Senate Judiciary Committee →

3. 17 sept. 2024 · Audition · US Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Privacy, Technology and the Law

   The companies in question often say that it's too early for any regulation because the science of how AI works and how to make it safe is too nascent. I'd like to restate that in different words. They're saying, we don't have good science of how these systems work or how to tell when they'll be smarter than us.

   Director of Strategy and Foundational Research Grants, Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), Georgetown University à l’époque

   Told senators that leading labs treat building AGI as "an entirely serious goal" that some inside think "could be as close as 1 to 3 years away".

   Oversight of AI: Insiders' Perspectives →

4. 28 mai 2024 · Podcast · The TED AI Show

   But for years, Sam had made it really difficult for the board to actually do that job by withholding information, misrepresenting things that were happening at the company, in some cases outright lying to the board

   Director of Strategy and Foundational Research Grants, Center for Security and Emerging Technology (CSET), Georgetown University à l’époque

   Her first long-form account of the November 2023 board action; she added that "we just couldn't believe things that Sam was telling us". Fortune's transcript of the same line reads "very difficult" rather than "really difficult".

   Former OpenAI board member explains why CEO Sam Altman got fired before he was rehired →