Helen Toner (@hlntnr) / X

Helen Toner

2,143 posts

Helen Toner

@hlntnr

AI, national security, China. Part of the founding team at @CSETGeorgetown (opinions my own). Author of Rising Tide on substack: helentoner.substack.com

Joined November 2014

Pinned
Helen Toner
@hlntnr
Jan 27
In 2025, "automating AI research" went from abstract idea to common practice inside leading AI companies. Out today: ✨new report✨ from a workshop we ran with some of the smartest people on this topic. 🧵: cset.georgetown.edu/publication/wh…
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Helen Toner
@hlntnr
Nov 30, 2023
Today, I officially resigned from the OpenAI board. Thank you to the many friends, colleagues, and supporters who have said publicly & privately that they know our decisions have always been driven by our commitment to OpenAI’s mission. 1/5
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Helen Toner
@hlntnr
Oct 10, 2025
Every so often, OpenAI employees ask me how I see the co now. It's always tough to give a simple answer. Some things they're doing, eg on CoT monitoring or building out system cards, are great. But the dishonesty & intimidation tactics in their policy work are really not. E.g:
Nathan Calvin
@_NathanCalvin
Oct 10, 2025
One Tuesday night, as my wife and I sat down for dinner, a sheriff’s deputy knocked on the door to serve me a subpoena from OpenAI. I held back on talking about it because I didn't want to distract from SB 53, but Newsom just signed the bill so... here's what happened: 🧵
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Helen Toner
@hlntnr
Jul 31, 2025
Got back last night from the World AI Conference in Shanghai. Megathread with photos/videos/thoughts from the conf itself + giant expo next door (ended up going back to the expo 3 times bc there were so many interesting booths) First up: robots robots robots (yes, inc Unitree)
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Helen Toner
@hlntnr
Nov 22, 2023
And now, we all get some sleep😴
OpenAI
@OpenAI
Nov 22, 2023
We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D'Angelo. We are collaborating to figure out the details. Thank you so much for your patience through this.
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Helen Toner
@hlntnr
Mar 4, 2023
If you spend much time on AI twitter, you might have seen this tentacle monster hanging around. But what is it, and what does it have to do with ChatGPT? It's kind of a long story. But it's worth it! It even ends with cake 🍰 THREAD:
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Helen Toner
@hlntnr
Jan 27, 2025
Bad DeepSeek takes flying thick and fast today. Thread of good ones instead: (all subject to Matt's correct meta-take, caveat lector ⬇️ )
Matt Clifford
@matthewclifford
Jan 27, 2025
My entire feed today is basically: “DeepSeek R1 is a huge moment that validates everything I previously thought about AI and all my existing policy and technical positions” 🙃
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Helen Toner
@hlntnr
Sep 30, 2024
Hi Marc 👋 Seems like you've joined the confusingly large club of people who have strong opinions about me & what I think, despite having ~no idea what I actually think. Happy to talk sometime if you want to fix that, otherwise, maybe pick a different villain for your fanfic?
Marc Andreessen 🇺🇸
@pmarca
Sep 30, 2024
"There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment. But always there will be the intoxication of power. Always there will be the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine Helen Toner's boot stamping on a human face— forever."
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Helen Toner
@hlntnr
May 27, 2025
Apparently still needs to be said: If we're trying to compete with China in advanced tech, this is *insane*. Even if this specific pause doesn't last long, every anti-international-student policy deters more top talent from choosing the US in years to come. Irreversible damage.
POLITICO
@politico
May 27, 2025
Exclusive: New student visa interviews are on pause as Trump’s admin weighs requiring foreign students applying in the U.S. to undergo social media vetting. politico.com/news/2025/05/2…
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Helen Toner
@hlntnr
Nov 30, 2023
Replying to @hlntnr
I have enormous respect for the OpenAI team, and wish them and the incoming board of Adam, Bret and Larry all the best. I’ll be continuing my work focused on AI policy, safety, and security, so I know our paths will cross many times in the coming years. 5/5
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Helen Toner
@hlntnr
Nov 30, 2023
Replying to @hlntnr
To be clear: our decision was about the board's ability to effectively supervise the company, which was our role and responsibility. Though there has been speculation, we were not motivated by a desire to slow down OpenAI’s work. 3/5
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Helen Toner
@hlntnr
May 30, 2024
Unexpectedly heartwarming stuff landing in my DMs 🥲 (note timestamps)
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Helen Toner
@hlntnr
Oct 12, 2023
My new obsession is asking DALL-E 3 for diagrams of complicated things. This is "please create a clearly labeled diagram of how reverse genetics works"
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Helen Toner
@hlntnr
Oct 20, 2025
With everyone being all "Andrej Karpathy thinks AGI is a whole 10 years away??", seems like time to share this one again
02:26:07
Dwarkesh Patel
@dwarkesh_sp
Oct 17, 2025
The @karpathy interview 0:00:00 – AGI is still a decade away 0:30:33 – LLM cognitive deficits 0:40:53 – RL is terrible 0:50:26 – How do humans learn? 1:07:13 – AGI will blend into 2% GDP growth 1:18:24 – ASI 1:33:38 – Evolution of intelligence & culture 1:43:43 - Why self
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