Four days before OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s exile, several staff researchers sent the board of directors a letter warning of a powerful artificial intelligence discovery that they said could threaten humanity, two people familiar with the matter said. told Reuters.
The previously unreported letter and AI algorithm were a catalyst that led the board to oust Altman, the poster boy for generative AI, the two sources said. Ahead of his triumphant return late Tuesday, more than 700 employees threatened to quit and join supporter Microsoft in solidarity with their fired leader.
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The sources cited the letter as one factor among a longer list of complaints from 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.
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OpenAI declined to comment.
According to one of the sources, longtime executive Mira Murati mentioned the project, called Q*, to employees on Wednesday and said a letter had been sent to the board ahead of this weekend’s events.
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After the story was published, an OpenAI spokeswoman said Murati told employees what the media reports were about, but she did not comment on the accuracy of the information.
The creator of ChatGPT has made progress on Q* (pronounced Q-Star), which some insiders believe could be a breakthrough in the startup’s quest for superintelligence, also known as artificial general intelligence (AGI), one of the people told Reuters. OpenAI defines AGI as AI systems that are smarter than humans.
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Based on vast computing resources, the new model was able to solve some mathematical problems, the person said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak on behalf of the company. Although only performing math at the level of high school students, performing such tests made researchers very optimistic about Q*’s future success, the source said.
(Reuters could not independently verify the Q* capabilities claimed by the researchers).
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This story was published by a wire agency feed without modifications to the text. Only the title was changed.
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Updated: 23 Nov 2023, 06:22 IST