Sam Altman exposes the charade of AI accountability

WHEN the news hit late Friday (Nov 17) afternoon that OpenAI had forced out founder and chief executive officer Sam Altman, almost immediately the comparisons to Apple ousting Steve Jobs were making the rounds. In other words, this was a catastrophic miscalculation to unseat a tech visionary. Although history may come to see it that way as well, the passing of time might also offer another, maybe more important reflection.

As attempted coups go, what happened at OpenAI was a colossal failure. As I write this, the latest twist is that Altman and his OpenAI co-founder Greg Brockman have been hired by Microsoft to lead a newly created in-house artificial intelligence (AI) division. More than 500 OpenAI employees are threatening to jump ship and join them. Microsoft chairman and CEO Satya Nadella must think he is dreaming: Over the course of one whiplashy weekend, he went from watching the company’s US$10 billion investment in OpenAI become jeopardised to managing to make the software giant’s position in AI look even stronger. Investors agree, sending the Redmond, Washington-based company’s shares to a record high.

We still know only precious few details around the decision by OpenAI’s board to jettison Altman. Reports point to a brewing discontent over Altman’s outside interests – namely his courting of funds for a new AI hardware venture – and a divergence of opinion on AI safety.