Alex Omenye
OpenAI has established a Safety and Security Committee, led by board members including CEO Sam Altman, as the company embarks on training its next artificial intelligence model.
This announcement was made by the AI startup on Tuesday.
Directors Bret Taylor, Adam D’Angelo, and Nicole Seligman will also be key figures on the committee, according to a post on OpenAI’s company blog.
The formation of this committee comes amid growing safety concerns related to OpenAI’s chatbots, which are known for their generative AI capabilities such as engaging in human-like conversations and creating images from text prompts.
The new committee is tasked with making safety and security recommendations to OpenAI’s board for its projects and operations.
“A new safety committee signifies OpenAI completing a move to becoming a commercial entity, from a more undefined non-profit-like entity,” commented D.A. Davidson managing director Gil Luria.
“That should help streamline product development while maintaining accountability.”
Notably, former Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever and Jan Leike, who led OpenAI’s Superalignment team responsible for ensuring AI aligns with intended objectives, left the firm earlier this month. OpenAI disbanded the Superalignment team in May, reassigning some members to other groups, according to CNBC.
The committee’s initial task will be to evaluate and enhance OpenAI’s current safety practices over the next 90 days, after which it will present recommendations to the board. Following the board’s review, OpenAI will publicly share updates on the adopted recommendations.
Other members of the committee include newly appointed Chief Scientist Jakub Pachocki and Matt Knight, head of security. The company will also consult external experts, such as Rob Joyce, a former U.S. National Security Agency cybersecurity director, and John Carlin, a former Department of Justice official.
While OpenAI did not provide specifics on the new “frontier” model it is developing, it hinted that the model would significantly advance its systems towards achieving Artificial General Intelligence.
Earlier in May, OpenAI announced a new AI model capable of realistic voice conversations and interactions across text and image mediums.
This move comes in the context of a broader AI industry landscape, including successful funding rounds for AI startups and legislative efforts by U.S. lawmakers to regulate AI system exports.
