Round-Up (#3)
What is happening at OpenAI?!
Hi, everyone! Welcome to the Round-Up, a new fortnightly post where I’ll send you the best of what I’ve been reading and hopefully save you a bunch of time in the process.
My sincere apologies for the length of time between round-ups. It’s been a busy time finishing some big projects, but we should return to normal now.
Turbulent Times at OpenAI
It’s been a strange week at OpenAI. That’s putting it mildly.
In the last few days, the company that brought us ChatGPT—and arguably the organization that catapulted AI into a new level of public interest—dramatically ousted its CEO, Sam Altman. Now he’s back after more than 730 employees of the company threatened to quit if he wasn’t reinstated.
Here’s why this matters: OpenAI, with its almost limitless financial support from partner Microsoft, is a big player in the field of artificial intelligence. When this enormous ship rocks, we will inevitably feel the waves. And in this case, it might just mean that the AI race is about to move up a gear.
Sarah Kreps, a professor of government at Cornell University and the director of the Tech Policy Institute, puts it well in an article for the Guardian:
Employees at OpenAI have voted with their feet in terms of where they stand on moving quickly versus proceeding more cautiously. Microsoft will put the full weight of its resources behind Altman and other ex-OpenAI employees. But some will likely go elsewhere in the “feeding frenzy” for talent, fundamentally reshuffling the AI development field.
Turbulence at the top in a field with a voracious appetite for speed over stability is something that warrants keeping a careful eye on.
📰 The AI Article of the Week:
📖 “OpenAI will benefit from unity of purpose with Sam Altman’s return.”
A fairly level-headed assessment of what’s going on with OpenAI and a relatively quick read.
Honourable mention: Anthropic’s ChatGPT rival Claude can now analyze 150,000 words in one prompt 🥳
In other words, Claude can analyze the entirety of Homer’s Odyssey or The Hobbit while barely breaking a sweat. This is a huge achievement that will have interesting ramifications in the next year or so.
Other worthwhile reads on AI
— Weather forecasts may soon get better — with the help of AI 🌦️
— Quantum Artificial Intelligence is Closer Than You Think 🧑💻
— On-the-job generative AI training is already critical for workers. Here’s how to get started 📊
📕 Book Club
I’m Currently Reading:
The Power of Geography - Ten Maps that Reveal the Future of Our World by Tim Marshall
Recommended Reading: Genius Makers: The Mavericks Who Brought AI to Google, Facebook, and the World by Cade Metz
What are you reading at the moment? I’d love to know!
Thanks so much for choosing to be a part of the Church and AI community. It’s so great to know that you’ve chosen to join us on this adventure! We’ll connect again on Friday for this week’s article!