Part of The OpenAI Safety Reckoning · 9 stories · since Sep 24 · newest 15m ago
OpenAI loses safety lead David Robinson days after firing three researchersOnline commenters call the resignation a self-serving 'grift'
4 Oct 3 10:31 AM · 11d ago · 13 articles · 13 posts · 19 comments · 6 sources · development 4 of 6
Social media reaction turned quickly skeptical, with posters questioning the sincerity of safety resignations from people who had financially benefited from the companies they now criticize.
“I understand wanting that bag, wanting to be in on a big thing. But if you thought OpenAI or Anthropic were okay a year ago or so, I really am not willing to give you any credit for leaving now.”
tante@tldr.nettime.orgDavid Robinson Former OpenAI safety-report leadOpenAI AI company at center of storyJasmine Wang, Tomek Korbak, Mikita Balesni Fired OpenAI researchersGeoffrey Irving Former OpenAI chief scientist at UK AI Safety Institute, now at ResolutionJacob Coxon Former Anthropic researcher
The whole story articlespostscomments the bright band is this development · numbered dots are the others · click one to jump
Reported in the same hours no headline names this development itself — these 3 claims were published in its stretch
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first by HN Best, 11d ago · also NDTV, Seeking Alpha, TechCrunch, HN Frontpage, The Atlantic
4 more headlines
- OpenAI Employee Quits Over 'Broken Culture', Calls For Aviation-Like Safety NDTV · 11d ago
- OpenAI safety leader resigns over workplace culture Seeking Alpha · 11d ago
- OpenAI safety employee resigns, claiming the company’s ‘culture is broken’ | TechCrunch Mastodon · 11d ago
- OpenAI safety employee resigns, claiming the company’s ‘culture is broken’ TechCrunch · 11d ago
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2 outlets ‘Time for trial and error is over’: OpenAI safety employee David Robinson quits over AI risks
first by The Times of India, 11d ago · also The Verge
1 more headline
- An OpenAI safety employee has quit and is sounding the alarm Mastodon · 11d ago
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1 outlet Another OpenAI safety departure adds to a pattern of researchers leaving with public warnings
first by The Decoder, 11d ago
What people said 20 voices · best of 21 · verbatim
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T
So the "I left $AILab for ethical reasons" grift is starting up: https://www. theatlantic.com/technology/202 6/10/openai-safety-team-resignation/688881/?gift=jE7sd3rFOqDdQaD53F1IhcqkhImekiWN9aB9R67GhAo I understand wanting that bag, wanting to be in on a big thing. But if you thought OpenAI or Anthropic were okay a year ago or so, I really am not…
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There are numerous problems with “alignment.” What are “human values” to begin with? He outlines some at the beginning of the post, implicitly: build bigger, better, more powerful things faster without adequate safeguards. We are literally pouring trillions of dollars of value into this enterprise, and I would say this is something that many…
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How do these supposed PR stunts change the economic reality? If there is an impending economic disaster because of these AI companies, how does saying the technology is dangerous delay or prevent that?
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A
I’m of two minds about people turning a new (reformed) leaf: 1. People need to be able to grow and change when confronted with the fact that they’ve caused harm. We have to give space for that. 2. We can still hold them accountable for the harm they’ve caused; if they are truly reforming they will understand that. https://www…
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We need a new rule that mandates every such "I am leaving <AI company> because of <concern>" post to disclose how much equity they have in the company and how much they have already cashed out. Easy to suddenly find a moral compass when you, your kids and their kids never have to worry about working for money again.Mr Robinson if you are reading…
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The cynic in me almost feels like this is staged. An article about culture that is actually an article about how big and smart and scary AI is. I think Michael burry recently said something like “IPOs need hype, calling AI big and scary is hype” in reference to the anthropic IPO.Last I checked it was still within the laws of physics to run…
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I remember something very similar when there was a sudden rush of articles and movies like "The Social Dilemma" criticizing Facebook and social networks, heavily featuring ex-employees, all of them happy to leave with big brands on their resumes and a hefty increase in net worth, all of a sudden having a "worried" expression about what their past…
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I think what’s missing in "AI is dangerous and needs control" is a lack of measurable harm. For example, with nuclear weapons development in the 1940s-1980s, it was clear to everyone how devastating the technology was.With AI, what is it? Scraping Australian government's data, and going around a bug in a website to get in?I think humanity develops…
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"And second, before we create systems significantly more capable than the ones we have today, we need new science to ensure that more capable models (and their successors) will make safe choices when we aren’t looking." – Which science will never materialise because with blackbox models reaching an opaque optimisation peak one needs to first build…
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This line of hypocrisy-bashing is unhelpful and will only serve to keep people quiet. Of course people in general need to be wealthy to dare speak out against powerful systems and people, especially in the US where money determines your quality of life so strongly.Would I respect a martyr who sacrificed their financial security to do this more? Of…
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As if speaking out against a massive company with NaN levels of capital and access to lawyers is a walk in the park. They probably don't have enough equity to outlast the onslaught of their legal team.It's also worth considering that the author could have just "quiet quit", resting and vesting while also crying about how AI is literally the…
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Do you think a law that nuclear meltdowns would send the CEO to jail would have stopped nuclear accidents from happening?I don't think this takes seriously enough the possibility that said CEO doesn't think the failure mode is likely and ignores it. Plenty of people are willing to take risks of the flavor "heads you win, tails everyone loses".
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It is no surprise I guess that the "move fast and break things" culture is itself misaligned with developing potentially highly dangerous technologies. Safety culture and risk aversion are very different of course.Is this the first time we have been in this position? Can anyone think of some prior examples?
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The common timing is bugging me. The trajectory doesn't seem to have been surprising over the last year, so why these exits now? Hey, anyone on the inside, did y'all secretly figure something out, got a computer god locked in the basement? Are rats fleeing a sinking ship? Please share with the class.
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People just want to give up all responsibility these days. If you use the model to do harm to someone else or commit a crime I would think it a lot more reasonable that you be held responsible, instead of making yourself the victim and blaming the manufacturer.
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It's bellow the pay fold but he hasn't been there that long in this case. Skimming his LinkedIn, unless he's got family money, he doesn't seem to be independently wealthy.>After three and a half years at OpenAI,
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I think its pretty easy to solve these problems: Whenever an AI agent commits a crime, the CEO is held personally accountable, as if they'd committed it themselves.
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What an absolutely ridiculous standard to try to hold someone to. Taking a vow of poverty is not a prerequisite to being permitted to express a moral position.
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This has been litigated endlessly with guns. The ceo of Smith & Wesson is not personally responsible for what people do with their guns.
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Regardless of whether someone did earn a nest egg, raising an alarm still matters for the rest of the world
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