Misaligned AI is not the one you should worry most about (yet).
For the first time, scientists have used the concept of evolutionary traps on human societies at large. They find that humankind risks getting stuck in 14 evolutionary dead ends, ranging from global climate tipping points to misaligned artificial intelligence, chemical pollution, and accelerating infectious diseases.
The anthropocene era: success and challenges.
LOL they couldnt take the heat for One Day LOL. Pile It On 😂
Altman is “ambivalent” about coming back.
OpenAI’s largest investor, Microsoft, said in a statement shortly after Altman’s firing that the company “remains committed” to its partnership with the AI firm. However, OpenAI’s investors weren’t given advance warning or opportunity to weigh in on the board’s decision to remove Altman. As the face of the company and the most prominent voice in AI, his removal throws the future of OpenAI into uncertainty at a time when rivals are racing to catch up with the unprecedented rise of ChatGPT.
A spokesperson for OpenAI didn’t respond to a request for comment about Altman discussing a return with the board. A Microsoft spokesperson declined to comment.
Terabase Energy has successfully completed its first commercial solar installation using Terafab, its automatic solar-installing robot.
The Terafab robot – aka the “construction automation platform” – installed 17 megawatts (MW) of the 225 MW White Wing Ranch project in Yuma County, Arizona, on which solar tech company Terabase Energy is working alongside developer Leeward Renewable Energy (LRE) and contractor RES.
The Terafab robot completely eliminates the manual lifting of heavy steel tubes and solar panels – an industry first. Terabase Energy says that its robot achieved labor productivity improvements of 25% compared with manual installation, and the setup improves working conditions for solar technicians, as they’re housed in shaded and cooled conditions. The robot’s precision also enables the 100% return of solar panel packaging for reuse by the manufacturer.
We’re still reeling from the just-breaking news that OpenAI’s enigmatic CEO and figurehead Sam Altman has been sacked by the company’s board of directors. And make no mistake that we’re still intensely curious what went down behind the scenes that led the company to part with Altman during the exact moment when its ascendant tech is driving the nascent AI industry. But as the dust settles, there’s another looming question: what’s the deal with Mira Murati, the company’s interim CEO who’s stepping in to lead immediately?
One thing’s for sure: she’s no lightweight. Here’s what Fast Company had to say earlier this year:
According to OpenAI’s corporate governance, directors’ key fiduciary duty is not to maintain shareholder value, but to the company’s mission of creating a safe AGI, or artificial general intelligence, “that is broadly beneficial.” Profits, the company said, were secondary to that mission. OpenAI first began posting the names of its board of directors on its website in July, following the departures of Reid Hoffman, Shivon Zilis and Will Hurd earlier this year, according to an archived version of the site on the Wayback Machine.
One AI-focused venture capitalist noted that following the departure of Hoffman, OpenAI’s non-profit board lacked much traditional governance. “These are not the business or operating leaders you would want governing the most important private company in the world,” they said.
Here’s who made the decision for Altman to be fired, and for Brockman to be removed from its board of directors. Update: Altman didn’t get a vote, The Information has reported. Brockman posted an account of his version of events to X that indicated the board had acted without his knowledge as well.
The AI startups working to build products that support African languages often get ignored by investors, says Hadgu, owing to the small size of the potential market, a lack of political support, and poor internet infrastructure. However, Hadgu says small African startups including Lesan, GhanaNLP, and Lelapa AI are playing an important role: “Big tech companies do not give focus to our languages,” he says, “but we cannot wait for them.”
Lelapa AI is trying to create a new paradigm for AI models in Africa, says Vukosi Marivate, a data scientist on the company’s AI team. Instead of tapping into the internet alone to collect data to train its model, like companies in the West, Lelapa AI works both online and offline with linguists and local communities to gather data, annotate it, and identify use cases where the tool might be problematic.
Bonaventure Dossou, a researcher at Lelapa AI specializing in natural-language processing (NLP), says that working with linguists enables them to develop a model that’s context-specific and culturally relevant. “Embedding cultural sensitivity and linguistic perspectives makes the technological system better,” says Dossou. For example, the Lelapa AI team built sentiment and tone analysis algorithms tailored to specific languages.
Mira Murati is to temporarily take up the reins at OpenAI following Sam Altman’s surprising departure.
After Sam Altman’s surprise sacking from OpenAI on Friday, the AI company has announced that Mira Murati will fill the gap as interim Chief Executive Officer (CEO) until a replacement is found. A relative unknown outside of Silicon Valley, many interested in the artificial intelligence (AI) space are rightfully wondering who she is. Let’s find out what we know so far.
Who are you?
Mira Murati was born in Albania but moved to Vancouver, Canada when she was 16 years old under a scholarship at an international school. After graduating, she studied at Dartmouth College and completed a mechanical engineering degree. After completing her studies, Murati worked as an intern at Goldman Sachs and then at the French aerospace group Zodiac Aerospace.