ChatGPT creator OpenAI is rethinking its hybrid profit-and-nonprofit corporate structure, CEO Sam Altman said at an artificial intelligence event in Vietnam just weeks after his sudden ouster and return as head of the company.
In one of his first public appearances since the dramatic events last month, Altman told an audience on Wednesday that his ouster had been “shocking” but rebuffed a question about a secret artificial intelligence project reportedly linked to the board’s decision to remove him.
OpenAI began as a nonprofit, which still governs through the board, but added a for-profit subsidiary that has raised vast sums, including billions of dollars from Microsoft.
“The structure clearly has some bugs in it, and our new board is thinking really carefully about what the best corporate structure for our mission should be,” he said on Wednesday via video link at Vingroup company VinAI’s conference.
The board gave little explanation about its vote to sack Altman, triggering various theories. Days before the vote, its researchers warned “of a powerful artificial intelligence discovery that they said could threaten humanity,” which was “one factor among a longer list of grievances” behind the firing, Reuters reported.
The “discovery” was reportedly a mystery project called Q* (pronounced Q-star). VinAI CEO Hung Bui asked Altman if he could elaborate on the internal project.
“Obviously not,” he said curtly, prompting nervous laughter from the audience.
Altman was reinstated under a new board just days after his removal, following an outcry from almost all of OpenAI’s employees and investors.
This was not Altman’s first falling out with OpenAI alumni, including Elon Musk and staffers who quit to form rival Anthropic, over AI ethics. Battle lines have been drawn between technologists who disagree about how quickly true artificial general intelligence, approaching the level of a sentient being, can be created and how dangerous that would be.
Altman said OpenAI has gone through a “crazy” period that has included the transition from nonprofit to partly-for-profit status and the boom in ChatGPT’s popularity.
“The thing I would ask for is like a little bit of patience while the company goes through this unnaturally fast growth spurt that has been super difficult and super painful for us,” he said, dressed in a gray hoodie.
He was responding to Bui’s point that countries like Vietnam had been given access to the chatbot far later than others.
VinAI has developed its own version, named PhoGPT after the noodle dish, making it one of several Vietnamese companies training a large language model for the Vietnamese market. The Vingroup company also researches AI for VinFast electric cars and other affiliates.
Altman said OpenAI will release more open-source models, including for developing countries, to narrow the gap with rich counterparts.
The last question he answered before logging off: What’s his favorite Vietnamese food?
“Banh mi,” the vegetarian said, adding, “I’m sure I mispronounced that. I’m embarrassed.” – NikkeiAsia
