International Courant
OpenAI has created a brand new Security and Safety Committee lower than two weeks after the corporate dissolved the staff tasked with defending humanity from AI’s existential threats. This newest iteration of the group answerable for OpenAI’s security guardrails will embrace two board members and CEO Sam Altman, elevating questions on whether or not the transfer is little greater than self-policing theater amid a breakneck race for revenue and dominance alongside accomplice Microsoft.
The Security and Safety Committee, shaped by OpenAI’s board, will likely be led by board members Bret Taylor (Chair), Nicole Seligman, Adam D’Angelo and Sam Altman (CEO). The brand new staff follows co-founder Ilya Sutskever’s and Jan Leike’s high-profile resignations, which raised quite a lot of eyebrows. Their former “Superalignment Staff” was solely created final July.
Following his resignation, Leike wrote in an X (Twitter) thread on Might 17 that, though he believed within the firm’s core mission, he left as a result of the 2 sides (product and security) “reached a breaking level.” Leike added that he was “involved we’re not on a trajectory” to adequately tackle safety-related points as AI grows extra clever. He posted that the Superalignment staff had just lately been “crusing towards the wind” inside the firm and that “security tradition and processes have taken a backseat to shiny merchandise.”
A cynical take could be that an organization centered totally on “shiny merchandise” — whereas making an attempt to fend off the PR blow of high-profile security departures — would possibly create a brand new security staff led by the identical individuals dashing in the direction of these shiny merchandise.
Former OpenAI head of alignment Jan Leike (Jan Leike / X)
The protection departures earlier this month weren’t the one regarding information from the corporate just lately. It additionally launched (and shortly pulled) a brand new voice mannequin that sounded remarkably like two-time Oscar nominee Scarlett Johansson. The Jojo Rabbit actor then revealed that OpenAI Sam Altman had pursued her consent to make use of her voice to coach an AI mannequin however that she had refused.
In an announcement to Engadget, Johansson’s staff mentioned she was shocked that OpenAI would solid a voice expertise that “sounded so eerily related” to her after pursuing her authorization. The assertion added that Johansson’s “closest pals and information shops couldn’t inform the distinction.”
OpenAI additionally backtracked on nondisparagement agreements it had required from departing executives, altering its tune to say it would not implement them. Earlier than that, the corporate pressured exiting workers to decide on between with the ability to communicate towards the corporate and conserving the vested fairness they earned.
The Security and Safety Committee plans to “consider and additional develop” the corporate’s processes and safeguards over the following 90 days. After that, the group will share its suggestions with the whole board. After the entire management staff critiques its conclusions, it would “publicly share an replace on adopted suggestions in a fashion that’s in step with security and safety.”
In its weblog submit saying the brand new Security and Safety Committee, OpenAI confirmed that the corporate is at the moment coaching its subsequent mannequin, which is able to succeed GPT-4. “Whereas we’re proud to construct and launch fashions which are industry-leading on each capabilities and security, we welcome a strong debate at this necessary second,” the corporate wrote.
