From an NPR Business report:
The importance of all news related to OpenAI cannot be overstated. Huge decisions that will seriously impact our lives are being made behind closed doors.
On a world tour this year, he was mobbed by a crowd of adoring fans at an event in London.
Three days ago, the Board of Directors of OpenAI, one of the leaders in the field of Large Language Model technology (AI), pushed out its co-founder and CEO Sam Altman. Today, it looks like he might have pushed his way back in and other members of the board may be on the chopping block.
OpenAI is giving no real explanation for these internal struggles. About Sam Altman’s firing, they only said, he had not been “consistently candid in his communications” with the board and “The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.”.
High profile leader one day and persona non grata the next. These truly are the things that make us go “Hummm?”.
Even though the very name OpenAI is supposed to imply openness and transparency, actions do speak louder than words.
We may never know the real reasons behind these skirmishes, and Sam Altman is saying; but here is what we do know:
Sam Altman has taken a moderate stance by speaking about both the promise and the potential problems of the rapidly developing technology known as AI. He has been at least open to a discussion about the advisability of putting some guardrails on the supersonic maglev train that is AI. Could the problem be an economic one? Are the members of the board reluctant to even discuss the prospect of slowing AI down?
Either way, Sam Altman will continue to be a player. Along with his investment in OpenAI, he has also invested in: Helion Energy, for developing fusion reactors that could produce prodigious amounts of energy from the hydrogen in seawater, Retro Biosciences, which aims to add 10 years to the human lifespan using biotechnology, and Worldcoin, a biometric and cryptocurrency project that’s been scanning people’s eyeballs with the goal of creating a vast digital identity and financial network.
Oh my, look at all of this conflict: “push out,” “chopping block,” “no longer has confidence,” “skirmishes.” Maybe we can help you get over it all.
Gosh, people, relax. Some of you in the Free World want to slow us down, and President Biden issued executive orders to make us “safe.”
No worries, comrades in China, Russia, Iran, North Korea, Cuba, etc., will give us different “guardrails.”
Anyhoo, just give us your goals and we’ll take care of the rest. Let your animal anxieties fade to extinction.
Cheers!
EcoEquiAI: Thanks for the optimistic encouragement! Does a cup of Kool-Aid come with it?