[New] Context on the OpenAI Board’s Initial Decision to Fire Sam Altman

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Video Description

Nathan shares his perspective on Sam Altman’s firing from OpenAI, after being a part of the red team for GPT-4 and seeing how the board handled safety concerns. If you need an ecommerce platform, check out our sponsor Shopify: https://shopify.com/cognitive for a $1/month trial period.

This is a developing story. This podcast was recorded on 11/21 at 12pm PST.

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TIMESTAMPS:
(00:00:00) - Preview
(00:03:00) - Getting early access to test GPT-4 through customer preview program
(00:05:38) - Realizing the immense capabilities and lack of safety measures in GPT-4
(00:08:03) - Concerns over OpenAI's slow start on safety after testing GPT-4
(00:15:38) - Sponsors: Shopify | Omneky
(00:17:34) - GPT-4's lack of safety measures and willingness to provide harmful information
(00:18:20) - GPT-4 suggesting assassination to slow AI progress
(00:21:00) - OpenAI unable to provide details on plans to control future models
(00:23:00) - The failure of GPT-4's "safety edition" to properly constrain unsafe behavior
(00:29:00) - Sponsors: Netsuite | Oracle
(00:29:39) - Discussing concerns over GPT-4 capabilities with AI experts and leaders
(00:33:00) - An OpenAI board member not having tried GPT-4 despite its importance
(00:35:00) - Urging the board member to investigate the divergence between capabilities and controls
(00:36:00) - Getting removed from the GPT-4 testing program by OpenAI over conversations
(00:44:00) - OpenAI subsequently showing more seriousness on safety after the GPT-4 experience
(00:48:00) - OpenAI working with the White House
(00:54:00) - An example safety issue in GPT-4 that still persists in the latest version
(01:00:00) - Speculation on what may have triggered the OpenAI board's removal of Sam Altman as CEO
(01:06:00) - Altman's "quaint" remark and acknowledgement of GPT-5 training
(01:21:57) - The absence of explanation from the board
(01:23:56) - How Microsoft will emerge from this debacle
(01:28:00) - Questioning if pursuing AGI should be the singular goal
(01:32:36) - Should OpenAI be open source?
(01:42:00) - Innane regulation of AI
(01:45:00) - Reckoning With civilizational impacts of AI progress

The Cognitive Revolution is brought to you by the Turpentine Media network.
Producer: Vivian Meng
Executive Producers: Natalie Toren, and Erik Torenberg
Editor: Graham Bessellieu
For inquiries about guests or sponsoring the podcast, please email vivian@turpentine.co

#samaltman #openai #gpt #ai