Name: OpenAI staff warned board of new AI risks: sources
Uploaded: 2023-11-23T09:43:39.431Z
Duration: 2 min 18 s
Description: There’s another twist in the OpenAI saga, involving a possible breakthrough in artificial intelligence – and a staff letter warning the board about it – before CEO Sam Altman’s brief firing.

There’s another twist in the OpenAI saga, involving a possible breakthrough in artificial intelligence – and a staff letter warning the board about it – before CEO Sam Altman’s brief firing.

San Francisco

The release of Open AI's ChatGPT has accelerated the development of artificial intelligence and warnings about its impact on society.

Rise of AI

OpenAI staff warned board of new AI risks: sources

There's another twist in the open AI saga, involving a possible breakthrough in artificial intelligence and a staff letter warning the board about it before CEO Sam Altman's brief firing. That's according to people familiar with the matter, who told Reuters the researcher's letter raised concerns that the discovery could threaten humanity. The sources said this was a key development ahead of Altman's sudden Friday ouster from the company that made the powerful chatbot ChatGPT. Altman was reinstalled late Tuesday after hundreds of employees threatened to quit. Reuters was unable to review the letter and OpenAI declined to comment on it. According to one of the sources, the project involved is called QSTAR, and some internally believed progress made on QSTAR could be a breakthrough in the start-up's search for superintelligence, also known as Artificial General Intelligence. OpenAI defines AGI as AI systems that surpass humans in most economically valuable tasks. Reuters could not independently verify the capabilities of QSTAR. Altman has previously spoken of concerns over superintelligent machines that are shared by many computer scientists. My worst fears are that we cause significant, we the field, the technology, the industry cause significant harm to the world. The board had vaguely cited a lack of candor and the need to defend OpenAI's mission to develop AI that benefits humanity in firing Altman. Before the issue of the letter came to light, Cornell University's Tech Policy Institute director Sarah Kreps said the saga will dog the company until more answers are given. What was sort of the grave misstep and should we be concerned, should investors be concerned, should governments be concerned, should citizens be concerned? So without a bit more transparency, I do think those will be some unanswered questions that will linger. Kreps said the new board installed alongside Altman's return as CEO appears to be more aligned with his vision of accelerating the development of AI while, she says, also ensuring safeguards are in place.

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Rise of AI