With Sam Altman’s return, a shift in AI from idealism to pragmatism
EVEN BY TECH’S fast-moving standards, the past week in the world of artificial intelligence (AI) was head-spinning. On November 17th the board of OpenAI booted out Sam Altman, the ChatGPT-maker’s boss. By November 20th Mr Altman had been offered refuge at Microsoft, the startup’s biggest backer. The same day nearly all of OpenAI’s 770 employees signed a letter threatening to quit unless the board members who dismissed Mr Altman reinstate him and resign. On November 21st Mr Altman was back in his old job. Heads have, then, spun back more or less to where they started. Or have they?
In fact, the OpenAI saga marks the start of a new, more grown-up phase for the AI industry. For OpenAI, Mr Altman’s triumphant return may supercharge its ambitions. For Microsoft, which stood by Mr Altman in his hour of need, the episode may result in greater sway over AI’s hottest startup. For AI companies everywhere it may herald a broader shift away from academic idealism and towards greater commercial pragmatism. And for the technology’s users, it may, with luck, usher in more competition and more choice.
To understand all these implications, start with what happened. OpenAI’s board fired Mr Altman for not being “consistently candid in his communications’‘. One factor that may have influenced the decision was disagreement over whether OpenAI had struck the right balance between the speed and safety of its products. Insiders say that OpenAI had made a breakthrough that enabled models to get better at solving problems without additional data. This spooked Ilya Sutskever, a co-founder and board member. Helen Toner, a board member affiliated with Georgetown University, had published an academic article that laid out what she saw as flaws in OpenAI’s approach to AI safety. On November 21st the New York Times reported that Mr Altman, worried about the negative press, had moved to oust Ms Toner….
2023-11-23 10:08:13
Source from www.economist.com
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