‹ BackHN Continuity

Thread

OpenAI safety leader quits, warning AI company's culture is 'broken'

267 points · 3 comments · jethronethro

  1. pyaamb · · focus · HN ↗
    My theory for why OpenAI wants to be regulated is because Sam Altman wants to avoid having to be more responsible and self regulate internally so they can preserve the role and identity of 'move fast and break things' and outsource the more grown up boring stuff to someone externally so that when things go wrong you can point to a government organisation and say hey look were not liable thats their job
    1. estearum · · focus · HN ↗
      Yes, duh?

      Your "theory" is that participants locked in a race to the bottom are looking for an external coordination mechanism?

      Yeah!

      1. pyaamb · · focus · HN ↗
        lol

        I suppose ill add that I think theres a good chance that they are somewhat intentionally trying to "draw the foul" to get the referees to intervene although thats creeping slightly into the conspiracy territory

      2. dboreham · · focus · HN ↗
        That doesn't mean that AI safety isn't a serious thing and a problem we should be worried about.
        1. estearum · · focus · HN ↗
          I agree! Participants looking for an external coordination mechanism is very sensible and if anything evidenced their earnestness about being trapped in a race.
      3. 0xpgm · · focus · HN ↗
        Running a company is hard work. If the current leadership in these companies cannot act responsibly, they need to make way for leadership that can.

        There are many companies that compete but are careful not to break laws or cause obvious harm.

        Why should a billion-dollar funded corporation still want to externalize the costs of its actions?

        1. estearum · · focus · HN ↗
          That’s not how coordination problems work.
Open on Hacker News to reply ↗

Unofficial Hacker News client; not affiliated with Y Combinator.