Former co-lead of OpenAI's "Superalighnment" team, Jan Leike, has joined its competitor Anthropic just days after resigning from his position at the Sam Altman-led company over safety concerns.
What Happened: Leike, who co-led OpenAI’s Superalignment team, left the company less than two weeks ago, citing prioritization of “shiny products” over “safety culture and processes."
Leike, who announced his move to Anthropic on Twitter, also called for others to join him at his new employer. Anthropic, which was founded in 2021 by Dario Amodei and Daniela Amodei, former OpenAI employees, has received a $4 billion investment from Amazon.
"My new team will work on scalable oversight, weak-to-strong generalization, and automated alignment research."
Leike’s departure from OpenAI follows the resignation of the company’s co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, who left OpenAI on May 14.
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Leike’s move to Anthropic comes amidst a series of departures from OpenAI, including that of policy researcher Gretchen Krueger, who also resigned on May 14. OpenAI has since announced the formation of a safety committee overseen by its board members.
Why It Matters: The departure of key executives and employees from OpenAI, a leading AI research lab, raises questions about the company’s internal dynamics and its approach to AI safety.
The recent exodus, including Leike and Sutskever’s resignations, could impact OpenAI’s ability to retain talent and maintain its position in the competitive AI industry.
Amidst these developments, Anthropic’s recruitment of former OpenAI talent, including Leike, could potentially strengthen its position as a competitor in the AI research space.
The company, backed by Jeff Bezos' Amazon.com Inc., has positioned itself as a safety-conscious alternative to other AI research labs.
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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of Benzinga Neuro and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.
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