On the eve of the dismissal of Sam Altman as CEO of OpenAI, the company’s researchers sent a letter to the board of directors warning of a “powerful discovery in the field of artificial intelligence that could threaten humanity.” This is reported by Reuters, citing two informed sources.
- A letter from OpenAI researchers was the catalyst for the ouster of Sam Altman as CEO. However, he was only “the last straw in a long list of complaints from the board of directors.” Reuters could not view the letter itself.
- According to one of the sources, OpenAI’s Mira Murati previously mentioned in a conversation with employees that a letter about an AI project called Q* (pronounced Q-Star) precipitated the board’s decision to fire Altman.
- One Reuters interlocutor noted that Q* could be a breakthrough in the search for so-called superintelligence, also known as artificial general intelligence (AGI). According to him, the project has huge computing resources and can solve mathematical problems. OpenAI calls AGI AI systems smarter than humans.
- Currently, the system can solve math problems at the elementary school level, but the researchers have optimistic predictions for the future of Q*.
- Reuters was unable to independently verify the researchers’ claimed capabilities of Q*.
According to information on the OpenAI website, the company’s models currently have problems with mathematics. They are not yet able to work stably when they are asked to solve mathematical problems. In a commentary for The New York Times, UCLA mathematician and 2006 Fields Medal winner Terence Tao noted that in the past few years, mathematicians have begun to worry about the potential threats of artificial intelligence, both to mathematical science and to themselves. Prominent members of the community are now raising issues and exploring potential opportunities “to break through the taboo,” he said.
After the presentation of the OpenAI GPT-4 project, more than 1,000 AI leaders and researchers signed an open letter calling for a pause in the development of more powerful systems, due to “potential risks to society and humanity.”
We remind you that on November 22, the OpenAI Company announced its readiness to return the recently fired CEO Sam Altman to his position. They also plan to appoint new members of the board of directors