Former OpenAI Staffer Who Resigned Over Safety Issues Says Sam Altman's Team Is Building 'Titanic Of AI'

A former safety employee at Microsoft Corp.-backed OpenAI has voiced concerns over the company’s approach to Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), drawing parallels with the ill-fated Titanic.

What Happened: William Saunders, who worked for three years on OpenAI’s superalignment team, resigned due to his perception of the company prioritizing product launches over safety.

In a recent podcast episode, Saunders expressed his apprehension about the Sam Altman-led company’s plan to achieve AGI while also launching paid products. He compared the company’s approach to the construction of the Titanic, where the focus was on newer, shinier products rather than safety measures.

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"I really didn’t want to end up working for the Titanic of AI, and so that’s why I resigned," Saunders said, adding that OpenAI's product releases were "most unsettling."

OpenAI did not immediately respond to Benzinga's request for comment.

He contrasted this with the Apollo space program, which he said was about carefully predicting and assessing risks while pushing scientific limits.

See Also: Palantir’s Peter Thiel Says It’s ‘Very Strange’ That Most Money In AI Is Being Made By Only One Company

Saunders fears that OpenAI, like the Titanic’s builders, could be relying too heavily on its current safety measures and research. He suggested that OpenAI needs more "lifeboats," such as delaying the release of new language models to research potential harms.

Why It Matters: OpenAI has faced significant changes in its safety team, with key members leaving the company, with an insider terming it as a "process of trust collapsing bit by bit."

The departures, including that of co-founder Ilya Sutskever, led to the disbanding of the superalignment team, which was absorbed into broader research efforts across the company. This raised concerns about the company’s commitment to AI safety.

The appointment of Jakub Pachocki as the new chief scientist, and the launch of a new AI venture by Sutskever in June, further highlight the shifting dynamics within OpenAI.

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Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.

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