OpenAI disbands AGI Readiness team, departing exec says opportunity cost ‘too high’

The dissolution of the AGI Readiness team at OpenAI came to light after its senior advisor shared a substack post.

OpenAI has been working for months with Broadcom to build its first AI chip focusing on inference, according to sources. (Express Image/Agencies)

Months after it dissolved the Superalignment team that was tasked with research on the implications of AI superintelligence, Sam Altman-led OpenAI has reportedly disbanded its ‘AGI Readiness’ team. The new team that has been dissolved advised OpenAI on its capacity to handle the steadily growing powerful AI and its readiness for the world. The new development came to light after Miles Brundage, senior advisor for AGI Readiness, announced his departure in a Substack post.

The AGI Readiness team’s break up comes at a time when OpenAI is reportedly planning to restructure the company as a for-profit business. This was after top executives like CTO Mira Murati, research VP Barret Zoph, and research chief Bob McGrew left the AI company on the same day in September.

In his post, Brundage announced that he was leaving OpenAI citing that the opportunity cost became too high and that it would be more impactful if conducted his research externally. Brundage said that he wanted to be less biased and that he has achieved what he intended to at OpenAI.

Story continues below this ad

Also Read | OpenAI introduces new tools to fast-track building of AI voice assistants

Brundage said that he was a researcher and manager at OpenAI. “I have been here for over six years, which is pretty long by OpenAI standards (it has grown a lot over those six years!). I started as a research scientist on the Policy team, then became Head of Policy Research, and am currently Senior Advisor for AGI Readiness,” he wrote.

Following the exit, an OpenAI spokesperson told CNBC that the company fully supports Brundage’s decision and that OpenAI is deeply grateful for his contributions. The spokesperson added that Brundage’s plan to go all-in on independent research on AI policy will allow him to have an impact on a wider scale.

For the uninitiated, Artificial General Intelligence or AGI is a theoretical concept of AI systems that can imitate or surpass human intelligence on a wide range of tasks. Ever since the idea came to the fore, it has been a matter of contention with some claiming that we are closer to achieving it, and some saying that AGI is impossible to attain. About AGI, Brundage said that neither OpenAI nor any other frontier lab is ready, and the world is also not ready.

Also Read | OpenAI says ChatGPT’s weekly users have grown to 200 million

The senior advisor said that he has plans to start his own nonprofit or join an existing one, to focus on AI policy research and advocacy. Brundage also cautioned that AI is as safe and beneficial as possible without concerted efforts to make it so. His post also indicated that the members of the AGI Readiness team will be reassigned to other teams.

Story continues below this ad

Brundage expressed that he will be interested in six interrelated topics which include assessment and forecasting of AI progress, Regulation of frontier AI safety and security, Economic impacts of AI, Acceleration of beneficial AI applications, Compute governance, and AI grand strategy.

In May, OpenAI disbanded the Superalignment team just one year after it was announced. The AI powerhouse had said that the dissolved group was focussed on scientific and technical breakthroughs to steer and control AI systems that are much smarter than humans to prevent them from going rogue.

Tags:
artificial intelligence