OpenAI has created a brand new Security and Safety Committee lower than two weeks after the corporate dissolved the group tasked with defending humanity from AI’s existential threats. This newest iteration of the group liable for OpenAI’s security guardrails will embrace two board members and CEO Sam Altman, elevating questions on whether or not the transfer is little greater than self-policing theatre amid a breakneck race for revenue and dominance alongside companion Microsoft.
The Security and Safety Committee, shaped by OpenAI’s board, shall be led by board members Bret Taylor (Chair), Nicole Seligman, Adam D’Angelo and Sam Altman (CEO). The brand new group follows co-founder Ilya Sutskever’s and Jan Leike’s high-profile resignations, which raised various eyebrows. Their former “Superalignment Team” was solely created final July.
Following his resignation, Leike wrote in an X (Twitter) thread on Could 17 that, though he believed within the firm’s core mission, he left as a result of the 2 sides (product and security) “reached a breaking point.” Leike added that he was “concerned we aren’t on a trajectory” to adequately deal with safety-related points as AI grows extra clever. He posted that the Superalignment group had just lately been “sailing against the wind” throughout the firm and that “safety culture and processes have taken a backseat to shiny products.”
A cynical take can be that an organization centered totally on “shiny products” — whereas attempting to fend off the PR blow of high-profile security departures — would possibly create a brand new security group led by the identical folks rushing towards these shiny merchandise.
The security departures earlier this month weren’t the one regarding information from the corporate just lately. It additionally launched (and shortly pulled) a brand new voice mannequin that sounded remarkably like two-time Oscar Nominee Scarlett Johansson. The Jojo Rabbit actor then revealed that OpenAI Sam Altman had pursued her consent to make use of her voice to coach an AI mannequin however that she had refused.
In a press release to Engadget, Johansson’s group stated she was shocked that OpenAI would forged a voice expertise that “sounded so eerily similar” to her after pursuing her authorization. The assertion added that Johansson’s “closest friends and news outlets could not tell the difference.”
OpenAI additionally backtracked on nondisparagement agreements it had required from departing executives, altering its tune to say it wouldn’t implement them. Earlier than that, the corporate pressured exiting staff to decide on between having the ability to communicate in opposition to the corporate and holding the vested fairness they earned.
The Security and Safety Committee plans to “evaluate and further develop” the corporate’s processes and safeguards over the subsequent 90 days. After that, the group will share its suggestions with your entire board. After the entire management group critiques its conclusions, it should “publicly share an update on adopted recommendations in a manner that is consistent with safety and security.”
In its weblog put up saying the brand new Security and Safety Committee, OpenAI confirmed that the corporate is at present coaching its subsequent mannequin, which is able to succeed GPT-4. “While we are proud to build and release models that are industry-leading on both capabilities and safety, we welcome a robust debate at this important moment,” the corporate wrote.