As I used the word "appears", I am postulating based on how the company is controlled, the non-profit entity, as well as certain statements that board members have made in the past such as Ilya Sutskever (now ex-board??), whose thoughts have likely been influenced by his mentor Geoffrey Hinton who is quoted on 60 Minutes saying the AI is about to be "more intelligent than us". Ilya is known for, beyond his scientific endeavors into AI and his position of Chief Scientist of OpenAI, some odd behavior on his commitment to AI safety though I'm sure his beliefs come from the right place.
There's a lot more to this, for each board member and Sam, but it makes me believe that a large wall was erected in information leading to a paranoid board.