Can OpenAI now make their stuff open source? ;-) Or better yet, public domain. It seems a shame to fail at their initial promise AND have it all go to Microsoft alone.
Ironically, it's almost like what you'd hear from MS in the 90s/2000s
They (the moderate AI risk-of-slavery-or-extermination camp, that sees safety as a critical issue but the promise of AI benefit to humanity if well-aligned as significant enough that working for aligned AI is worthwhile instead of just adopting an AI-ban and bombing non-compliant datacenters) have always been of the opinion that open source is less safe than in the hands of a benevolent dictator with AI safety in mind, which is why their best case scenario was them being the benevolent dictatory gatekeeping AI.
OTOH, its quite possible that they would see having a single entity purely interest in private gain being likely to acquire a commanding lead as even a greater risk than having current SotA public (really, its hard for me to see any other possibility consistent with their public views other than seeing that threat as a reason to join the extremist Yudkowski camp in anti-AI crusade mode.)
That seems like a fool's errand, even before they accepted MS's money, with Google, Facebook, and even Amazon in play.
To be an independent alternative to big corporations, I can understand. But all that went out the window with Altman, his deal with MS, and the direction he chose to take OpenAI - effectively becoming the big corporation they were suppose to fight.
Agreed; my describing the history of public decision making by OpenAI is not the same as endorsing any of the decisions.
I've never thought closed gatekeeping was going to be an effective mitigation in this space, whether by intrusive government action or a private "benevolent gatekeeper".
Some kind of a leak a real possibility IMO
It initially took the view that actual openness was the best route for that. It later took the view that openness was more dangerous than having the most advanced progress behind the walls of a benevolent gatekeeper.
The set of options it faces has changed, and its quite possible its view of the best option in the current context could change, again, because of that. (Also, who "OpenAI" is has changed over time, and changed rather radically recently, a process which almost certainly is not complete, which also can change decisions about the best way forward.)