OpenAI CEO and co-founder, Sam Altman, has confirmed that the company is not currently training GPT-5 which is rumoured to be the successor of GPT-4 which was released in March. Altman confirmed this while speaking at an event at MIT where he was asked about a recent open letter circulating in the tech industry.
The open letter requested that labs such as OpenAI pause development of AI systems “more powerful than GPT-4” citing risks to society and humanity. Dismissing the rumours, Altman confirmed that the company is currently not and won’t train GPT-5 for some time. Further criticising the letter, he also added that it was “missing most technical nuance about where we need the pause.”
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“We are doing other things on top of GPT-4 that I think have all sorts of safety issues that are important to address and were totally left out of the letter,” Altman added suggesting that the company will continue to add more capabilities to existing GPT-4.
Several AI researchers and Tesla boss Elon Musk have together signed an open letter urging labs across the world to stop developing large-scale AI systems as they believe these systems pose ““profound risks to society and humanity.”
Published by the nonprofit Future of Life Institute, the letter states that the AI labs are in an “out-of-control race” to develop AI software which “no one — not even their creators — can understand, predict, or reliably control.” The letter that has been signed by many notable signatories like Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak, Skype co-founder Jaan Tallinn, Gary Marcus and more such names, requests for a “public and verifiable” pause on such projects. “If such a pause cannot be enacted quickly, governments should step in and institute a moratorium.”
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The letter has sparked divided views among experts regarding the potential impact of AI, with some asserting that it presents an existential threat while others consider it to be a less significant concern.
