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Comment by AlexanderTheGr8 | Hacker News Reader

Why was a politician (Al Gore was former vice president) on the board of a tech company? I have seen this before with Kissinger at Elizabeth Holmes's failed company. I think OpenAI was also looking at a famous politician joining their new board.

Is there a reason TECH companies want old very-likely-tech-illiterate politicians to join their board? Is the only reason to be more cozy with washington?

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Well Al Gore famously invented the internet https://www.forbes.com/sites/gilpress/2016/01/11/al-gore-inv...

But more usually, companies want politicians on the board because they have political connections which they can tap to the company’s advantage.

Reading that Newt Gingrich quote was amusing. Basically one of Gore’s principal political opponents came out and said “yeah Gore was the guy who did the most in Congress to make the Internet happen.” You don’t see that kind of bipartisan praise very often these days, at least not in Congress.

I have no insider information on the matter. But considering Al Gore’s¹ and Apple’s² commitment to the environment, it makes sense to me.

¹ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Environmental_activism_of_Al_G...

² https://www.apple.com/environment/

I feel like a former VPOTUS probably knows a thing or two about operating a large organization. Probably has a hell of a roladex, too.

At certain scale, government regulation will be a significant risk for business and you need some connection to the govt. Politicians tend to have the one. Plus, those people are actually good at resolving political conflicts inside the board, so it's also risk mitigation for something like the whole OpenAI drama.

The dude created the internet!

Al Gore took the initiative on creating the Internet.

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