The Firing and Reinstatement of Sam Altman

This week we unpack the soap opera that was Sam Altman's firing-then-reinstatement at OpenAI (makers of ChatGPT).

Beneath the drama, and there was a lot of it, the saga potentially stands as a commentary on the state of AI safety approaches within the tech community, and on the effectiveness of self-governance.

We also touch on the US Government's executive order on safe and trustworthy AI and the UK governments AI Safety Summit, both from the last month or so.

Links:
Article on Sam Altman's firing and re-instatement (The Verge) https://www.theverge.com/2023/11/22/23967223/sam-altman-returns-ceo-open-ai

Winners and losers from OpenAI/Sam Altman saga (Bloomberg) https://www.bloomberg.com/opinion/articles/2023-11-22/sam-altman-return-to-openai-makes-clear-winners-and-losers-of-debacle

Timeline of events in OpenAI/Sam Altman saga (TechCrunch) https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/29/a-timeline-of-sam-altmans-firing-from-openai-and-the-fallout/

Article about Helen Toner, (now former) OpenAI board member (Guardian) https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/nov/23/who-is-helen-toner-australian-woman-openai-chatgpt-board

US Executive Order on Safe, Secure, and Trustworthy Artificial Intelligence https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2023/10/30/fact-sheet-president-biden-issues-executive-order-on-safe-secure-and-trustworthy-artificial-intelligence/

Official statement of UK AI Safety Summit (including comments from Richard Marles) https://www.gov.uk/government/news/world-leaders-top-ai-companies-set-out-plan-for-safety-testing-of-frontier-as-first-global-ai-safety-summit-concludes

Analysis of UK AI Safety Summit (Carnegie Endowment for International Peace) https://carnegieendowment.org/2023/11/09/uk-ai-safety-summit-opened-new-chapter-in-ai-diplomacy-pub-90968
Credits: Editing and post-production by Martin Franklin (East Coast Studio) eastcoaststudio.com.au Music by Bensound.com