2023-11-21 09:21:05
Sam Altman (left) with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella during an Open AI event in November 2023 in San Francisco.
Foto: Getty Images, AFP
Die abrupt firing of Sam Altman by the Open AI board increasingly appears to be a serious wrong decision. Despite the idealistic intentions of the board of directors, it remains unclear who benefits from this other than the opponents of artificial intelligence. But further polarization in the debate about the future of technology is exactly what society needs least now.
The exact reasons for Altman’s expulsion are still unclear, but a dispute over the future of AI appears to be at the heart of the conflict. Some board members, including chief engineer Ilya Sutskever, fear that AI, if developed too hastily and only from a commercial perspective, could pose an existential threat to humanity. Opposed to them are the techno-optimists who, although they recognize the risks of the new technology, still do everything in their power to advance its development as much as possible. The only limit they see is the available capital. But this has never really been a problem in Silicon Valley. The problem is more that it is too abundant.
The idealistic-minded board members lost.
Altman, a charismatic and missionary-minded entrepreneur typical of Silicon Valley, secured a strong defender for the further development of AI in Satya Nadella at an early stage. Altman and the Microsoft boss now appear to be the clear winners of the conflict. The idealistic-minded board members lost.
The final chapter of this farce has not yet been written. There is a risk of legal disputes by disempowered investors against the board and even the potential collapse of Open AI if 90 percent of the workforce actually joins Altman.
The future of AI will not be decided in a democratic public debate, but by a few tech giants and super investors.
If what the board suspects, that Altman and Nadella secretly forged an alliance to give Microsoft more influence in Open AI, turns out to be true, it would hardly be surprising. Microsoft holds 49 percent of Open AI and provides the enormous computing power to operate Chat-GPT, the world’s leading AI application.
The sobering conclusion of this debacle: The future of AI will not be decided in a democratic public debate, but by a few tech giants and super investors – the same elites who already dominate the Internet and social media.
Techno-pessimists fear that the new world of AI could lead to the downfall of humanity. But perhaps the greater danger is not out-of-control technology, but the accelerated concentration of power in the high-tech sector in the hands of a few.
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– The real risk of artificial intelligence
A dispute over the future of artificial intelligence appears to be the main reason for Sam Altman’s expulsion from Open AI. What is sobering is who actually determines the future of AI.