It’s all about profit, security plays no role – criticize former employees. OpenAI benefits from the dispute.
At OpenAI, the company behind the AI model ChatGPT, the waves are rising. SRF business editor Pascal Lago knows more about this.
Why is ChatGPT inventor OpenAI in a frenzy?
OpenAI has dissolved its security department. This is the team that is supposed to ensure that artificial intelligence acts in the interests of humanity and does not rebel against its own creator. At the same time, the two former board members Helen Toner and Tasha McCauley have spoken out publicly for the first time and sharply criticize OpenAI and its boss Sam Altman.
What are the allegations against Altman and OpenAI?
The only thing that counts at OpenAI is profit, and security and ethical concerns have no place, say the former board members. Whether this is true cannot be independently verified. The only thing that is certain is that there were internal differences of opinion at OpenAI. CEO Sam Altman is said to have a manipulative, difficult leadership style. And there are internal power struggles.
What is the purpose of OpenAI’s new Safety Committee?
OpenAI is responding to the criticism and has announced a new safety committee. This is after the internal AI safety team was dissolved. The new committee is to monitor the AI systems. CEO Sam Altman is also at the table. Toner and McCauley criticize this type of self-regulation as a toothless tiger. What is needed now is effective government regulation in the USA.
Legend:
The controversial OpenAI boss Sam Altman.
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Sam Altman sits on an AI committee of the US Department of Homeland Security, where he advises the government and the private sector. Future AI regulations are likely to benefit him. OpenAI is no longer a poor start-up. Thanks to billions of dollars in investor money, including from main sponsor Microsoft, OpenAI is much more likely to be able to afford expensive lawyers to comply with regulatory requirements than smaller competitors.
Does the criticism harm OpenAI and Altman?
On the contrary. The discussion currently revolves almost exclusively around superintelligence – that an AI will become more intelligent than us humans and thus surpass us. It is disputed among experts whether such a superintelligence will ever emerge. But the more people talk about it, the less it is questioned. This belief in superintelligence helps Altman and OpenAI to collect money from investors. And it distracts from the question of whether OpenAI can even be profitable in the long term.