Just before Sam Altman was fired, OpenAI researchers warned the board of a major AGI breakthrough
Just when everyone thought that the OpenAI saga was done and dusted, a report brought shocking information to the surface. As per Reuters, right before Sam Altman was fired by the OpenAI board, a team of researchers in the company had sent the directors a letter warning of a powerful artificial intelligence (AI) discovery, that they said could even threaten humanity. This key breakthrough is being considered as artificial general intelligence (AGI), which is otherwise known as superintelligence.
For the unaware, AGI or AI superintelligence is when the computing capabilities of a machine are higher than that of humans. This could result in solving complex problems faster than humans, especially those which require elements of creativity or innovation. This is still far away from sentience, a stage where AI gains consciousness, and can operate without receiving any inputs and beyond the knowledge of its training material.
The previously unreported letter and AI algorithm was a key development ahead of the board's ouster of Altman, the poster child of generative AI, the two sources told Reuters. Before his unexpected return late Tuesday, more than 700 employees had threatened to quit and join backer Microsoft in solidarity with their fired leader.
The sources cited the letter as one factor among a longer list of grievances by the board that led to Altman's firing. Reuters was unable to review a copy of the letter. The researchers who wrote the letter did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
According to one of the sources, long-time executive Mira Murati mentioned the project, called Q*, to employees on Wednesday and said that a letter was sent to the board prior to this weekend's events.
After the story was
Read more on tech.hindustantimes.com
