I hope this doesn’t lead to everyone sorting into capabilities (microsoft) vs safety (openai). OpenAI’s ownership was designed to preserve safety commitments against race dynamics, but microsoft has no such obligations, a bad track record (Sydney), and now the biggest name in AI. Those dynamics could lead to talent/funding/coverage going to capabilities unchecked by safety, which would increase my p(doom).
Two caveats:
We don’t know what the Altman/Brockman “advanced AI research team” will actually be doing at Microsoft, and how much independence they’ll have.
I appreciate the joke, but I think that Sam Altman is pretty clearly “the biggest name in AI” as far as the public is concerned. His firing/hiring was the leading story in the New York Times for days in a row (and still is at time of writing)!
I mean, by that standard I’d say Elon Musk is the biggest name in AI. But yeah, jokes aside I think bringing on Altman even for a temporary period is going to be quite useful for Microsoft attracting talent and institutional knowledge from OpenAI, as well as reassuring investors.
I hope this doesn’t lead to everyone sorting into capabilities (microsoft) vs safety (openai). OpenAI’s ownership was designed to preserve safety commitments against race dynamics, but microsoft has no such obligations, a bad track record (Sydney), and now the biggest name in AI. Those dynamics could lead to talent/funding/coverage going to capabilities unchecked by safety, which would increase my p(doom).
Two caveats:
We don’t know what the Altman/Brockman “advanced AI research team” will actually be doing at Microsoft, and how much independence they’ll have.
According to the new OpenAI CEO Emmett Shear, the split wasn’t due to “any specific disagreement on safety”, but I think that could be the end result.
They hired Hinton? Wow.
I appreciate the joke, but I think that Sam Altman is pretty clearly “the biggest name in AI” as far as the public is concerned. His firing/hiring was the leading story in the New York Times for days in a row (and still is at time of writing)!
I mean, by that standard I’d say Elon Musk is the biggest name in AI. But yeah, jokes aside I think bringing on Altman even for a temporary period is going to be quite useful for Microsoft attracting talent and institutional knowledge from OpenAI, as well as reassuring investors.