The announcement hit like a bomb on Friday. Sam Altman, the face of artificial intelligence, was fired from the company Open AI, which is behind the Chat GTP service.
The board’s decision was met with huge internal protests and almost all staff threatened to resign.
Concerned that AI development is going too fast, the board chose to oust Altman “for the good of humanity”, as there is a well-documented fear of what the technology could lead to – a concern that Altman himself shares.
The risk is that technology will become superhuman in the future – and a threat to democracy. This is the opinion of over 1,000 researchers and tech leaders, including Elon Musk, who last spring signed a petition demanding that development be slowed down.
“Extremely infected”
On Wednesday, however, Sam Altman is again CEO of the company and parts of the board at Open AI are being replaced.
– This has become extremely infected. The way it was done was that neither he nor the investors got to know anything until a few minutes before he was fired, says TV4 Nyhetern’s tech reporter Emil Hellerud.
– Of course he is pissed off and feels betrayed by those closest to him. One of his demands has been for the board to leave, he continues.
Open AI is divided into two camps with two different visions. One side wants to push for commercialization and the other wants to focus more on safety issues.
The fact that Sam Altman is now returning to office as CEO, and that the board is being replaced, is a sign that the company has chosen a common direction going forward.
– I think this will make Open AI move even more in a commercial direction and give investors more power, says Emil Hellerud.
Those who make money defend the technology
Olle Aronsson, co-founder of the site Breakit, draws the same conclusion.
– One of the purposes of Open AI from the beginning was that it would be a non-profit driving force that would be a leader in AI development. The founders, including Elon Musk, saw a lot of risks with AI ending up entirely in commercial hands, he tells TT and continues:
– As with everything else in capitalism, those who make money from the technology will defend its raison d’être even if other actors warn of risks.
Sam Altman has achieved icon status on Open AI and has recently toured the country to talk about artificial intelligence and has been questioned by various political committees, as new legislation is in the works.
– He has become something of a superhero and is very popular, says Emil Hellerud.