OpenAI was creating THIS powerful 'model' which left staff 'alarmed' before Altman's sacking

OpenAI was working on an advanced system which was so powerful that it led to safety concerns among the company's staff, as per reports, before CEO Sam Altman was sacked.

Some OpenAI researchers were alarmed by the artificial intelligence model to such an extent that they wrote to the board of directors warning that it may threaten humanity, reported Reuters.

The model, which was named Q* – and pronounced as “Q-Star” – had the ability to solve basic maths questions it had never seen before, as reported by the tech news site The Information. The report added that the speed with which the system was being developed alarmed few safety researchers.

The ability to solve math questions will be seen as a significant development in AI. The report surfaced days after the turmoil in the boardroom of San Francisco-based OpenAI, which started with the sacking of Altman and ended with his reinstatement after almost all the 750 staff of the company threatened to resign if the CEO was not brought back.

Altman was also supported by the biggest investor of OpenAI – Microsoft.

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Is OpenAI moving too fast? Experts raise concern over its 'speed'

Many experts have raised concerns that companies like OpenAI have been moving too fast towards the development of artificial general intelligence (AGI), which is the term used for a system which can perform vast numbers of tasks at human or above human levels of intelligence.

Speaking to The Guardian, the Institute for People-Centred AI at the University of Surrey's Andrew Rogoyski said that the maths-solving large language model's (LLM) existence will be a breakthrough.

Watch:OpenAI said to be considering developing its own AI chips

“The intrinsic ability of LLMs to do maths is a major step forward, allowing AIs to offer a whole new swathe of analytical capabilities,” he stated.

Speaking a day before he was sacked, Altman stated that another breakthrough had been made by the company behind ChatGPT.

While speaking at the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC) summit, he stated, “Four times now in the history of OpenAI, the most recent time was just in the last couple weeks, I’ve gotten to be in the room, when we sort of push the veil of ignorance back and the frontier of discovery forward, and getting to do that is the professional honour of a lifetime.”

(With inputs from agencies)