The rift that cost artificial-intelligence whiz kid Sam Altman his CEO job at OpenAI reflects a fundamental difference of opinion over safety, broadly, between two camps developing the world-altering software and pondering its societal impact.
On one side are those, like Altman, who view the rapid development and, especially, public deployment of AI as essential to stress-testing and perfecting the technology. On the other side are those who say the safest path forward is to fully develop and test AI in a laboratory first to ensure it is, so to speak, safe for human consumption.
Altman, 38, was fired on Friday from the company that created the popular ChatGPT chatbot. To many, he was considered the human face of generative AI.
Some caution the hyper-intelligent software could become uncontrollable, leading to catastrophe – a concern among tech workers who follow a social movement called “effective altruism,” who believe AI advances should benefit humanity. Among those sharing such…
