Artificial sweetener. In classic science fiction stories, rapid technological advances herald immense potential, while nervous inventors advocate for safety barriers to prevent everything from spiraling out of control. In the case of generative artificial intelligence, the dangers of machines learning to think like people seem all too real. And as is often the case in imaginary storybook futures, the company behind ChatGPT is about to marginalize any concern for humanity to focus on power and profit.
These dueling forces have caused confusion for years at OpenAI, co-founded and led by Sam Altman. Founded as a nonprofit in 2015, the chatbot maker has found itself needing large amounts of cash to fund the vast computing resources being devoured by AI. Similar tensions led to a split with a single sponsor and tesla boss Elon Musk in 2018, before OpenAI set up a “limited profit” subsidiary to attract billions of dollars from Microsoft and others. The nonprofit’s board of directors maintained firm control to ensure it could slow developments if necessary to ensure safety. When it tried to accomplish its mission by firing Altman last year, it was too late: Microsoft used its influence to help. undo the decision.
The schism effectively left OpenAI’s governance as little more than lip service. A possible record fundraisingwhich would impute a valuation of 150,000 million dollars, lays the foundations to codify one of the most radical shifts or changes in strategy in an industry famous for them. The sponsors would be injecting capital into a technology company whose chief technology officer, among many others, is clearinga concession difficult to comprehend anywhere else in Silicon Valley. The board would be demoted to a minority shareholder and OpenAI would be transformed into a for-profit entity, Reuters reported. Altman, who had previously been unpaid, could be online for a 7% stake, valued on paper at almost $11 billion.
Modern capitalism adheres to the idea that equity aligns incentives: what’s good for the boss is good for investors. Altman and OpenAI may soon have a lot of success. The problem is that OpenAI long maintained that domain could not be its control mission.
A chemical manufacturer could poison the air, or a construction company could bribe local officials, but regulators are watching. However, as Altman himself has warned, artificial intelligence poses a potential existential threat, one that governments cannot control. Last year he assured the US Senate that OpenAI’s structure reduces the incentive to produce such dangerous technology. A payment that rewards growth changes the story.
This result was probably inevitable. OpenAI does not work in a vacuum. Others are racing to catch up, including Google Meta Platforms, Amazon.com, and even Musk’s own xAI. According evaluations According to data collected by LMSYS Chatbot Arena, second-place Google is just ahead of its 10th-place rival. OpenAI is exceptionally ahead of the pack for now, but all of these margins are slim. The advantage may not last long.
With so much money at stake, survival is paramount and therefore AI leaders will be proportionately motivated. OpenAI has tried to disguise its competitiveness with various fig leaves. As antitrust authorities examined its relationship with Microsoft, the software giant resigned from its non-voting seat on the board of directors. OpenAI, however, simply began informing all investors. Altman recently left the safety committee to ensure independence, but the committee must work with the entire board to delay products. Simply put, OpenAI has only the thinnest veneer of security.
Unless, of course, all the doomsayers are exaggerated. During its dizzying rise, many AI developers issued dire warnings. The cynical view is that this was convenient: what better way to attract investment and government support than to promote a new product as the highest possible strategic priority? On that basis, alarmists are no longer useful when money arrives at breakneck speed.
A darker possibility is that OpenAI’s radical turn toward profits is precisely what the naysayers feared. One of the few safeguards left may be senior staff defections. Altman and his investors, however, are putting their faith in science while dismissing the dire warnings as mere fiction.
Context news
OpenAI, the artificial intelligence company that developed the ChatGPT chatbot, is working on a plan to restructure itself as a for-profit corporation, Reuters reported on September 25, citing anonymous sources. The business is currently structured as a “limited profit” subsidiary, in which investors can buy a stake and earn returns of up to 100x, while a not-for-profit board maintains governance control. As part of the restructuring, boss Sam Altman could receive a 7% stake, Bloomberg reported, also citing unnamed sources. Changes to the company’s structure are critical to securing a $6.5 billion funding round that would value OpenAI at $150 billion, Reuters previously reported.
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