The sources cited the letter as one factor among a longer list of grievances by the board that led to Altman’s firing. Reuters was unable to review a copy of the letter. The researchers who wrote the letter did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
OpenAI declined to comment.
Loading
According to one of the sources,long-time executive Mira Murati told employees on Wednesday (US time) that a letter about the AI breakthrough called Q* (pronounced q star) precipitated the board’s actions.
The maker of ChatGPT had made progress on Q*,which some internally believe could be a breakthrough in the start-up’s search for superintelligence,also known as artificial general intelligence (AGI),one of the people told Reuters. OpenAI defines AGI as AI systems that are smarter than humans.
Given vast computing resources,the new model was able to solve certain mathematical problems,the person said on condition of anonymity because they were not authorised to speak on behalf of the company. Though only performing maths on the level of grade-school students,acing such tests made researchers very optimistic about Q*’s future success,the source said. Reuters could not independently verify the capabilities of Q* claimed by the researchers.
The development continues a tumultuous week for the company,which started with the ousting of Altman.