A report says the new discovery called Q* fuelled safety concerns and that employees told the board about it before CEO Sam Altman was fired.
ADVERTISEMENTGenerative artificial intelligence (AI) giant OpenAI was reportedly working on an advanced discovery that staff researchers warned ahead of CEO Sam Altman’s sacking could threaten humanity, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters.
OpenAI’s board fired Altman last Friday but then reinstated him on Tuesday after almost all the company’s 750 staff threatened to resign if he was not reinstated.
It is unclear why Altman was fired but the sources said the previously unreported letter and AI algorithm were key developments before the chaos that shook up the AI start-up.
The sources cited the letter as one factor among a longer list of grievances by the board leading to Altman's firing, among which were concerns over commercialising advances before understanding the consequences.
OpenAI acknowledged in an internal message to staffers the existence of a project called Q* and a letter to the board before the weekend's events, one of the people said, according to Reuters.
Achieving artificial general intelligence
An OpenAI spokesperson said that the message, sent by long-time executive Mira Murati, alerted staff to certain media stories without commenting on their accuracy.
Some at OpenAI believe Q* (pronounced Q-Star) could be a breakthrough in the start-up's search for what's known as artificial general intelligence (AGI), one of the people told Reuters.
OpenAI defines AGI as autonomous systems that surpass humans in most economically valuable tasks.
Given vast computing resources, the new model was able to solve certain mathematical problems, the person said on condition of anonymity because the individual was not authorised to speak on behalf of the company.
Though only performing maths on the level of grade-school students, acing such tests made researchers very optimistic about Q*’s future success, the source said.
A day later, the board fired Altman.
Governments around the world are trying to figure out how to regulate AI amid concern it could be used to build weapons or even surpass human control.
Euronews Next has contacted OpenAI for comment but did not receive a reply at the time of publication.
