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OpenAI’s Abandonment of AI Safety as a Principle: A Closer Look
We’ve heard this all before. The AI doomers versus the AI boomers. In early 2023, the doomers were in ascendance. They generally promote the thesis that AI presents an existential threat. Whether or not it’s imminent, they say, the disaster will come so suddenly that we must act preemptively to save humanity.
Key Takeaways
- The clear leader of the boomer group seems to be Yan LeCun, who is often critical of the doomer crowd but not necessarily a true AI boomer himself.
- Helen Toner’s departure from OpenAI and her subsequent comments highlight how former employees can become a tool for re-establishing their reputation or signaling to other doomers that the fight against AI safety isn’t over.
- Jan Leike, who was once head of alignment at OpenAI, left the company amidst disagreements with leadership about its core priorities. His departure and subsequent comments have been seized upon by AI doomers as evidence for the need to take action now.
- The tactical mistakes made by AI doomers in pushing their concerns—such as exposing self-interest, attacking open-source projects, and making claims without empirical evidence—have hindered their ability to make progress. They are now looking to negative commentary from former employees like Toner and Leike for new “smoking guns” justifying action.
- There is a view among AI doomers that they alone are warning the world of AI risks, but many seem to benefit financially or in terms of prestige if their desires around AI pause and regulations are followed. Earnest warnings can be undermined by these perceived self-serving interests or over-the-top fear-mongering.
- The real AI safety effort should focus on reasonable concerns that don’t raise the specter of imminent human extinction but instead address more likely near-term harms. However, these issues often pale in comparison to a human extinction event, making them less compelling for discussion.
Against this backdrop, we were treated to several stories over the past two weeks about OpenAI’s abandonment of AI safety as a principle. This created a vehicle for doomer lament but frankly seemed more like an opportunity for ousted and marginalized OpenAI employees to repair their reputation or signal to fellow doomers that the fight was not over.
It is difficult to say whether this has helped or hurt the AI safety cause. AI safety has many important elements that don’t raise the specter of imminent human extinction but instead pertain to more likely near-term harms. However, these perfectly reasonable concerns often pale in comparison with a human extinction event and are hard to generate significant discussion.
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Originally published at synthedia.substack.com. Curated by AI Maestro.
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