OpenAI Employee is Terrified of Sheer Speed of AI Growth, Quits ChatGPT
OpenAI employee quits ChatGPT, citing the terrifying pace of AI development.
AI has taken the world by storm, but there seems to be no end to its potential and future development. The rapid growth has an OpenAi employee 'pretty terrified' about the prospects to the extent of quitting his role with ChatGPT. He fears the race to develop human-level artificial general intelligence (AGI) is quickly gathering steam.
“Honestly I’m pretty terrified by the pace of AI development these days,” says Seven Adler, who has worked at the California-based company since March 2022. He stepped down amid concerns about the trajectory of AI development.
“When I think about where I’ll raise a future family, or how much to save for retirement, I can’t help but wonder: Will humanity even make it to that point?”
All this came about when he shared a series of posts on X (formerly Twitter), referencing the race towards creating artificial intelligence that meets or exceeds human-level intelligence, known as artificial general intelligence (AGI). His former boss and OpenAI chief executive, Sam Altman has always stated how achieving AGI is an objective he believes would 'benefit all of humanity.'
Along with Steven, some leading AI researchers have warned that when AGI is achieved, humans will no longer be able to control it. Further, a survey of AI researchers conducted in 2022 found that the majority believed there's a 10 percent chance of AGI leading to an existential catastrophe for humanity.
Steven's concerns have increased calls for stronger ethics and rules in the AI industry. According to him, “an AGI race is a very risky gamble, with huge downside." He also mentioned the fact that many labs haven't figured out how to align AI's objectives to match those of humans. He believes that with the speed of competition, it's less likely that anyone can do it in time.
"Even if a lab truly wants to develop AGI responsibly, others can still cut corners to catch up, maybe disastrously," he said. Steven wishes that labs would be more open and candid about safety regulations needed to stop the inhumane rush for AGI.
