Oklo Announces Chairman Transition

SANTA CLARA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Apr 22, 2025--

Oklo Inc. (NYSE: OKLO), an advanced nuclear technology company, today announced that Sam Altman will step down as Chairman of the Board. Altman has helped guide Oklo’s development since its beginning, and has helped position it to execute on its mission.

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“Sam has been instrumental in shaping Oklo’s trajectory since the inception of Oklo,” said Jacob DeWitte, Oklo’s co-founder and CEO. Caroline Cochran, Oklo Co-Founder and COO added, “We deeply appreciate Sam’s leadership and dedication to our mission. We are excited to continue working to bring scalable, clean energy to the AI sector and beyond, and to continue to explore strategic partnerships with leading AI companies, including potentially with OpenAI.”

“Fission is an essential solution for meeting the growing energy demands of artificial intelligence and other critical industries,” said Altman. “Under the leadership of Jake and Caroline, Oklo is well suited to meet these needs. As Oklo explores strategic partnerships to deploy clean energy at scale, particularly to enable the deployment of AI, I believe now is the right time for me to step down. Historically, energy availability and cost, along with computational limitations, have been fundamental constraints on technological progress. A future where these are no longer limiting factors will be radically different, and I look forward to following Oklo’s leadership in driving this transformation.”

Jacob DeWitte, Oklo CEO and Co-Founder, will serve as Chairman and Board Member.

About Oklo Inc.: Oklo Inc. is developing fast fission power plants to deliver clean, reliable, and affordable energy at scale, establishing a domestic supply chain for critical radioisotopes, and advancing nuclear fuel recycling to convert nuclear waste into clean energy. Oklo was the first to receive a site use permit from the U.S. Department of Energy for a commercial advanced fission plant, was awarded fuel from Idaho National Laboratory, and submitted the first custom combined license application for an advanced reactor to the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission. Oklo is also developing advanced fuel recycling technologies in collaboration with the U.S. Department of Energy and national laboratories.

Forward-Looking Statements

This press release includes statements that express Oklo’s opinions, expectations, objectives, beliefs, plans, intentions, strategies, assumptions, forecasts or projections regarding future events or future results and therefore are, or may be deemed to be, “forward-looking statements.” The words “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intends,” “may,” “might,” “plan,” “possible,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” or, in each case, their negative or other variations or comparable terminology, and similar expressions may identify forward-looking statements, but the absence of these words does not mean that a statement is not forward-looking. These forward-looking statements include all matters that are not historical facts. They appear in a number of places throughout this press release and include statements regarding our intentions, beliefs or current expectations concerning, among other things, the benefits of the DOE’s Voucher Program, results of operations, financial condition, liquidity, prospects, growth, strategies and the markets in which Oklo operates. Such forward-looking statements are based on information available as of the date of this press release, and current expectations, forecasts and assumptions, and involve a number of judgments, risks and uncertainties.

As a result of a number of known and unknown risks and uncertainties, the actual results or performance of Oklo may be materially different from those expressed or implied by these forward-looking statements. The following important risk factors could affect Oklo’s future results and cause those results or other outcomes to differ materially from those expressed or implied in the forward-looking statements: risks related to the deployment of Oklo’s powerhouses; the risk that Oklo is pursuing an emerging market, with no commercial project operating, regulatory uncertainties; the potential need for financing to construct plants, market, financial, political and legal conditions; the effects of competition; the risk that the DOE’s Voucher Program fails to produce the expected benefits; changes in applicable laws or regulations; and the outcome of any government and regulatory proceedings and investigations and inquiries.

The foregoing list of factors is not exhaustive. You should carefully consider the foregoing factors and the other risks and uncertainties of the other documents filed by Oklo from time to time with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission. The forward-looking statements contained in this press release and in any document incorporated by reference are based on current expectations and beliefs concerning future developments and their potential effects on Oklo. There can be no assurance that future developments affecting Oklo will be those that Oklo has anticipated. Oklo undertakes no obligation to update or revise any forward-looking statements, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as may be required under applicable securities laws.

Oklo's Aurora powerhouse (Image: Oklo)

LONDON (AP) — Voters in many areas of England go to the polls Thursday in local elections that provide a test of feeling about Prime Minister Keir Starmer’s center-left Labour government, 10 months after it was elected in a landslide.

Both Labour and the main opposition Conservative Party are bracing for losses in the midterm poll. The hard-right Reform UK led by Nigel Farage is fielding more candidates than any other party and hopes to make major gains in the elections for about 1,600 seats on 23 local councils, six mayoralties and one seat in Parliament.

Reform got about 14% of the vote in last year’s national election and holds just four of the 650 seats in the House of Commons. But polls now suggest its support equals or surpasses that of Labour and the Conservatives, and it hopes to displace the Conservatives as the country’s main party on the right before the next national election, due by 2029.

“Tomorrow is the day that two-party politics in England dies for good,” Farage told supporters at a rally on Wednesday evening.

Polls are open until 10 p.m. (2100GMT, 5 p.m. EDT), with most results due on Friday.

Reform is aiming to win hundreds of municipal seats, largely from the Conservatives, whose leader Kemi Badenoch could face revolt if the party does very badly.

Badenoch has acknowledged that the results could be “very difficult” for the Tories. The party did extremely well when these areas were last contested in 2021, a time when then-Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative government enjoyed a surge in popularity due to the COVID-19 vaccine program.

Farage’s party also hopes to win two or three mayoral contests and a special parliamentary election for the seat of Runcorn and Helsby in northwest England. It was long a secure Labour district, but the previous lawmaker, Mike Amesbury, quit after he was convicted of punching a constituent in a drunken rage.

Tim Bale, professor of politics at Queen Mary University of London, said the Conservatives and Reform are in “a fight for the soul of the right wing of U.K. politics.” He said Farage’s “populist radical right insurgency” also poses a threat to Labour, targeting working-class voters with pledges to curb immigration, create jobs and cut government waste.

The centrist Liberal Democrats also hope to build on their success in winning more affluent, socially liberal voters away from the Conservatives.

Bale said winning municipal power could be a double-edged sword for Reform, bringing pressure to deliver on transport, potholes, housing and all the other unglamorous demands of everyday politics.

“Populist parties tend to offer fairly simple solutions to fairly complex problems,” he said. “Which is fine when you’re in opposition and all you are doing is living in a house of words. But once you start living in house of deeds, that is a completely different proposition.”

Reform UK party leader Nigel Farage speaks during a campaign event at Stafford Showground, Stafford, England, whilst campaigning for this week's local elections, Wednesday April 30, 2025. (Jacob King/PA via AP)