Before his sacking as CEO of OpenAI last week — and reinstatement this week — could Sam Altman have been working on an artificial intelligence system so powerful it might threaten the safety of humankind?
It sounds like a horror story worthy of Skynet — the AI system in the Terminator films that took control of the planet and subjugated humanity to death and slavery. With Microsoft Corp (NASDAQ:MSFT) as your chief backer, you’d have access to most of the computer terminals around the world.
Much of the media speculation behind Altman’s sacking focused on “safety concerns.” Tech news website The Information suggested Altman had been working on a model called Q* (Q-Star) that was developing at such a pace it caused alarm to safety researchers.
‘No Disagreement On Safety’
This ...