Capabilities and accelerationist-focused researchers have gone from diluted and restrained to concentrated and encouraged
Microsoft now has unbounded control, rather than a 49% stake
Microsoft cannot be expected to have any meaningful focus on alignment/safety
They are not starting from scratch: a huge chunk of their most capable staff and leadership will be involved
The “superalignment” project will be at best dramatically slowed, and possibly abandoned if OpenAI implodes
Other major labs smell blood in the water, possibly exacerbating race dynamics, not to mention a superficial increase (by 1) in the number of serious players.
It seems intuitively bad:
Capabilities and accelerationist-focused researchers have gone from diluted and restrained to concentrated and encouraged
Microsoft now has unbounded control, rather than a 49% stake
Microsoft cannot be expected to have any meaningful focus on alignment/safety
They are not starting from scratch: a huge chunk of their most capable staff and leadership will be involved
The “superalignment” project will be at best dramatically slowed, and possibly abandoned if OpenAI implodes
Other major labs smell blood in the water, possibly exacerbating race dynamics, not to mention a superficial increase (by 1) in the number of serious players.