Several staff researchers at OpenAI wrote a letter to the board of directors, cautioning about a potent artificial intelligence (AI) discovery that they claimed could pose a threat to humanity.
Reuters reports that the unreported letter and AI algorithm were pivotal developments preceding the board’s removal of Sam Altman, the prominent figure in generative AI, as CEO.
Prior to Altman’s return on late Tuesday (21 November), over 700 employees had threatened to quit and align with Microsoft, their supporter, in solidarity with their dismissed leader.
The news report says the letter is one element in a more extensive list of board grievances leading to Altman’s termination, including concerns about advancing commercialisation without a full understanding of the consequences.
Following contact from Reuters, OpenAI, which chose not to comment, internally acknowledged a project named Q* and a letter to the board before the weekend’s events, according to one of the sources.
Some individuals at OpenAI believe that Q* (pronounced Q-Star) could represent a breakthrough in the startup’s pursuit of artificial general intelligence (AGI), as defined by OpenAI as autonomous systems surpassing humans in most economically valuable tasks.
With extensive computing resources, the new model managed to solve specific mathematical problems, according to the anonymous Reuters source.
Although limited to performing math at the level of grade-school students, excelling in such tests left researchers highly optimistic about Q*’s future success, the source added.
However, Reuters was unable to independently verify the capabilities of Q* as claimed by the researchers.
