He is leaving with a bang: German top manager Jan Leike has quit OpenAI – the company that ChatGPT developed the most famous artificial intelligence in the world.
After his resignation, Leike wrote on the Twitter successor X: “Leaving this job was one of the hardest things I have ever done.” This was followed by harsh criticism of the course of the tech giant’s leadership around boss Sam Altman (39).
Leike wrote that the company's security culture had taken a back seat in favor of “sparkling products.” He criticized the fact that too little time was being invested in important issues surrounding future AI systems. These included the security of the applications and their social impact.
“These problems are very difficult to solve. And I am concerned that we are not on the right path,” Leike continues. Among other things, his team had to fight for computing power for “important research.” But this has become increasingly difficult within the company.
“Could lead to the extinction of humanity”
Leike warned: “Developing machines that are more intelligent than humans is a dangerous undertaking.”
Last summer, the German expert caused a stir with a blog postIn it, he warned together with OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever (37): “The enormous power of 'superintelligence' could lead to the disempowerment of humanity or even to the extinction of humanity.”
He continued: “Currently, we have no way to control or manage a potentially superintelligent AI and prevent it from going its own way.”
But this wake-up call apparently did not lead to the hoped-for rethinking within the company. Leike reported that he had been having differences of opinion with the OpenAI management for some time. A “breaking point” had recently been reached. The differences were too great. Co-founder Sutskever has also left the company.