OpenAI recently scored a huge PR win over one of its biggest rivals, a mistake that even CEO Sam Altman admitted “didn’t look good.”
On Friday, Altman announced that OpenAI had reached new agreement There were discussions with the Defense Department over how its AI systems would be deployed in the military, an action that many saw as the company crossing the picket line. That’s because Anthropic, a company founded by former OpenAI employees, refused to accede to the Pentagon’s demand that it give the military unrestricted use of its cloud AI, even as CEO Dario Amodei insisted that Anthropic’s AI should not be used for autonomous weapons or mass surveillance of US citizens.
This was a move that could have cost Anthropic dearly. The Pentagon vowed to pull the company out of contract with the federal government by declaring it a “supply chain risk” and even threatened to seize its technology.
But at least in the short term, it is OpenAI that is facing more blowback for its decision. Online, Score of users – ranging from your typical AI bro, we kid you not, to Katy Perry – saying they’re abandoning ChatGPIT in favor of the cloud because of Altman’s deal with the Pentagon. Indeed, Cloud rocketed to the top of the App Store over the weekend, and as of Monday, still claims the number one spot above ChatGPT, which currently sits in second place.
A recent thread in the r/ChatGPT subreddit called for users to abandon AI chatbots, quickly becoming one of the forum’s most upvoted posts of all time.
“Now you are training a war machine,” reads the thread. “Let’s see proof of cancellation.”
Despite Altman’s claim that the DoD agreement included the same restrictions Anthropic was seeking, there was a sharp backlash. But in the eyes of many of its users and critics, the fact that OpenAI reached an agreement while Anthropic refused to capitulate was a sign of capitulation to a deeply unpopular administration. The ethics of a company that was supposedly founded on for-profit principles now allowing its AI systems to be deployed in the US military could not have faced a more immediate test than when just hours after Altman announced the deal on Friday, the US and Israel launched a series of deadly attacks in Iran that killed its leader Ruhollah Khomeini. and hundreds of citizens. (Reports suggest the DOD used the cloud to select targets in Iran, meaning Anthropic’s principled stance may also be more theater than AI industry.)
Meanwhile, Altman is doing damage control. After the deal was announced, he hosted a rare AMA on
“How did you go from ‘an instrument for the good of mankind’ to ‘let’s work with the War Department’?”. Asked a user. one more made fun of Altman asked if he was happy that Cloud overtook ChatGPT on the App Store. “No,” Altman admitted.
One of the most important questions is what OpenAI would do if DoD issued orders that violated the Constitution, or sought to conduct large-scale domestic surveillance. Altman was of the opinion that OpenAI would reject any such order, even if it meant imprisonment. (“Please visit me in jail if necessary,” he said took a pinch.)
But he also demonstrated a blind belief that extolling the virtues of the armed forces would, by and large, make it a non-issue. altman emphasis on this that “the people in our military are far more committed to the Constitution than the average person on the street,” and without criticism quoted Statement from a DoD official who swore he would never violate America’s civil liberties or engage in “unlawful” surveillance.
Such small promises from Trump administration figures were apparently enough to convince Altman that whatever the military has done or has done is completely above board, while ignoring the fact that what the administration has done Relying on state-of-the-art surveillance technology To carry out mass deportations, and to consign the name “Edward Snowden” to memory lane.
“I would also be horrified by a world where our government decided mass domestic surveillance was OK,” Altman. wrote at one point. “I don’t know how I would come to work every day if the state of the country/Constitution was like this.”
OpenAI users viewed Altman’s ostensible ignorance as an insult to their intelligence. “You can’t post statements from an administration that is known to lie and expect people to trust (you or your company),” a angry.
At the end of the day, even Altman couldn’t deny what a PR disaster he had created for himself. DoD deal, that accepted“It was definitely rushed, and the optics don’t look good.”
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