Triumph and Fear

Emmett Shear was the former boss of video-sharing platform Twitch   Getty Images

"It's clear that the process and communications around Sam's removal has been handled very badly, which has seriously damaged our trust."

"[I plan to] reform the management and leadership team in light of recent departures into an effective force."

"[I will take action to] drive changes in the organization, [including] significant governance changes if necessary."

"[I] took this job because I believe that OpenAI is one of the most important companies currently in existence."

"If there is a world where we survive ... where we build an AI that's smarter than humans and survive it, it's going to be because we built smaller AIs than that, and we actually had as many smart people as we can working on that, and taking the problem seriously."

Former Twitch leader Emmett Shear, interim CEO, OpenAI

OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman was fired as chief executive  EPA

 

The wider world may be mostly oblivious to the concerns of IA researchers and scientists in the potential inherent in further development of artificial intelligence making great strides in assuming the heights of human intelligence and surpassing them to create a potential army of hostility that would be beyond human control, but the triumph of achievement in AI and the fear of the potential rest uneasily in the minds of its developers.

That cautionary note expressed by Emmett Shear: "If there is a world where we survive ... where we build an AI that's smarter than humans and survive it ..." is fodder for deep thought in the minds of those responsible for the emergence of the situation and perhaps to a greater degree, the eventual outcome. In the world these programming geniuses have succeeded in producing, humankind derives great benefits and at the same time has introduced a flirtation with possible danger.

OpenAI's decision to fire one of its foremost thinkers and developers, one of the architects of OpenAI certainly shocked the world of AI development and communications. OpenAI's chatbot ChatGPT, began a chase to continue developing artificial intelligence, setting aside the concerns of many at the forefront of the enterprise that brought it to life. For OpenAI, an interim CEO moved in while former (fired) CEO Sam Altman and former president Greg Brockman were snapped up by Microsoft to lead the corporation's new AI research team.

 

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella speaking at a OpenIA Dev Day  Nov 6. Justin Sullivan, Getty

 

Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella saw an opportunity and grasped it, bringing the two aboard, while at the same time ensuring that the collaboration between Microsoft and OpenAI would continue with the venture that Microsoft invested billions in, to help provide OpenAI with the massive computing power required for the operation of its AI systems.

Nadella posted on X he was "extremely excited" to bring on the former executives of OpenAI, looking "forward to getting to know" the new CEO Shear as well; both committed to their partnership. "We are going to build something new & it will be incredible", wrote Brockman. More 'incredible' than what has already been achieved, with its benefits and concerns in equal measure?

As for the firing of Sam Altman and the consequential departure of two others from OpenAI, Shear noted that Altman was removed by the board for a reason that was not a "specific disagreement on safety". The board had stated that Altman's behaviour -- in not being totally frank -- was effectively setting back the board's capacity to exercise its responsibilities.

"Hundreds of OpenAI employees signed a letter calling on the board to step down after it was unable to reach an agreement to bring back ousted CEO Sam Altman.

"Altman, whose departure from OpenAI was announced Friday, joined Microsoft early Monday after a weekend of boardroom drama that sent shock waves across Silicon Valley."

"Altman will lead a new artificial intelligence project at Microsoft, the tech giant said early Monday after rumors swirled that he could make a dramatic return to the company he helped build into one of the world's hottest startups."
NBC News