TECH - Crisis At OpenAI? Top Executive Who Just Quit Says Focus Shifted Away From AI Safety To 'Shiny Products:' Here's Sam Altman's Reply | Benzinga
A former top safety executive at OpenAI, Jan Leike, has publicly criticized the company’s leadership for prioritizing “shiny products” over AI safety days after his departure.
What Happened: Leike, who was a key figure in OpenAI’s superalignment group, announced his resignation on Tuesday. In a candid post on X, Leike wrote, “I resigned."
While he did not immediately explain why he resigned, Leike has now detailed his disagreements with OpenAI leadership in several posts.
"Stepping away from this job has been one of the hardest things I have ever done because we urgently need to figure out how to steer and control AI systems much smarter than us."
Stepping away from this job has been one of the hardest things I have ever done, because we urgently need to figure out how to steer and control AI systems much smarter than us. — Jan Leike (@janleike) May 17, 2024
Leike further elaborated on his decision, stating that OpenAI’s safety culture and processes have been sidelined in favor of “shiny products.” He expressed his disagreement ...