Shocking Move: OpenAI Co-Founder John Schulman Joins Rival Anthropic, Igniting Excitement and Speculation
Tech News Summary
In a shift within the AI industry, John Schulman, co-founder of OpenAI, announced his departure from the Microsoft-backed company to join Anthropic, an AI startup funded by Amazon. This move follows OpenAI’s recent disbandment of its superalignment team, which aimed to ensure AI systems remained under human control. Schulman, involved in refining AI models for ChatGPT, emphasized his desire to focus more on AI alignment and pursue hands-on technical work.
Despite Schulman’s exit, he affirmed that OpenAI’s leadership remains dedicated to investing in AI alignment. This departure follows the earlier exits of superalignment team leaders Jan Leike, who also joined Anthropic, and Ilya Sutskever, who is starting Safe Superintelligence Inc.
OpenAI’s internal dynamics have been tumultuous. Sam Altman, CEO and co-founder, was ousted last November, leading to protests from employees and the resignation of board members, including Sutskever. Altman was later reinstated, and additional board members were appointed. An independent review by law firm WilmerHale revealed the board’s lack of concern over product safety at the time of Altman’s dismissal.
OpenAI continues to focus on AI safety, with Altman mentioning collaboration with the US AI Safety Institute on evaluating new AI models. The company remains committed to allocating 20% of its computing resources to safety initiatives. Meanwhile, Greg Brockman, OpenAI’s president, has announced a sabbatical for the remainder of the year.
As competition heats up, notably between Anthropic and OpenAI, both backed by tech giants like Amazon, Google, and Meta, the race to develop the most advanced generative AI models continues.
Original Story https://www.cnbc.com/2024/08/06/openai-co-founder-john-schulman-says-he-will-join-rival-anthropic.html
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