OpenAI announced new board members as part of its effort to return Sam Altman as CEO. One board member is young, one middle-aged-ish, and one is old. All are white men. That is what passes for diversity in tech and in the venture industry that funds it. OpenAI may add new seats, but many prominent women in tech say they don't want to join.
As many in tech and finance roll their eyes while reading this - if they even get past the headline - the issue is not simply 'fairness' or equity (not the stock appreciation kind). The challenge is that despite Altman's redemption being viewed - correctly - as the triumph of financial considerations over societal concerns, the future of such investment may be limited by increasingly unfavorable public perceptions which in turn influence public policy and the future of tech adaptation, to say nothing of what excluding over 50% of the planet's human minds might imply for optimization. JL
Margaret O'Mara reports in MIT Technology Review:
Venture capital remains the tech ecosystem’s least diverse domain. White and Asian men manage 93% of venture dollars. The majority of venture capital firms still have zero women as general partners or fund managers. The US venture capital industry invested a record-breaking $329 billion in 2021. Only 2% went to startups founded by women. Less than 0.004% went to startups with Black female founders. The lack of investor and founder diversity determines who gets rich, shapes
the problems technology companies solve, the
products they develop, and the markets they serve.