Meta's Chief AI Scientist Calls OpenAI A 'Contract Research House' For Microsoft, Says They Won't Be The First To Develop AGI

Meta Platforms Inc.'s META chief AI scientist Yann LeCun took a swipe at Sam Altman-led OpenAI, calling it a "contract research house" for Microsoft Corp. MSFT.

What Happened: LeCun criticized OpenAI in an interview with Wired, pointing at the fact that the Altman-led AI startup has diverged from its non-profit path that was set at the beginning.

OpenAI was co-founded by Sam Altman, Elon Musk, Ilya Sutskever, and others in 2015, with a non-profit model.

See Also: Meta’s Chief AI Scientist Yann LeCun Throws Shade At OpenAI, Says ‘Research World Doesn’t Care Too Much’ About The ChatGPT Creator

However, in 2019, the company set up a subsidiary with a for-profit model, capped at 100 times the investment. Microsoft invested $1 billion in the company to begin with – it has since increased that investment to $13 billion so far.

This decision has been criticized by LeCun, Musk and others.

"Now, they are basically your contract research house for Microsoft, though they have some independence," LeCun said.

Since the launch of ChatGPT in Nov. 2022, Microsoft has gradually integrated OpenAI's technologies across its services – from Windows to Office and Bing, among others.

LeCun has also criticized OpenAI for shunning the open source model and instead opting for closed source. LeCun said this is one of the reasons why the "research world doesn't care too much" about the ChatGPT creator.

OpenAI Won't Be The First To Develop AGI, Says LeCun

LeCun said OpenAI is "no longer open", and even went on to add that the company won't be the first to develop artificial general intelligence (AGI).

AGI refers to an intelligent agent or large-language model that can perform intellectual tasks that humans can perform.

"And then there was a third thing, which was their belief that AGI is just around the corner, and they were going to be the one developing it before anyone. They just won’t," LeCun said.

While LeCun's remarks have been scathing, OpenAI and Altman have laid out their vision for AGI, both over the long and short terms. Altman and Musk also agree on at least one thing – AGI will be the "most important event" in world's history.

Will OpenAI be the first to reach there? Only time will tell.

Check out more of Benzinga's Consumer Tech coverage by following this link.

Read Next: OpenAI Investor Vinod Khosla Ponders About This ‘Key Question’ As Billionaires Start Wondering About Interest Rate Cuts