Key Takeaways:
Artificial intelligence startup OpenAI has officially set up a safety and security committee that has begun training its next flagship AI system, which will be a successor to the GPT-4 large language model (LLM) that underpins its infamous chatbot, ChatGPT.
OpenAI Announces Safety and Security Committee to Evaluate Risks Posed By AI
In a blog post made on Tuesday, the San Fransisco-headquartered company said the committee will advise the full board on critical safety and security decisions for its upcoming projects and operations.
OpenAI gave a glimpse into the future, stating that it expects its “next frontier model” to deliver “next-level capabilities” and is on a mission to build an artificial general intelligence (AGI) system that performs well across a wide range of tasks similar to humans.
The new model will likely replace OpenAI’s current foundational model, GPT-4, and will be an engine for its power-generative AI tools like image generators, virtual assistants, search engines, and chatbots.
The safety committee formed to evaluate any risks posed by the new technology will be led by OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman and chairman Bret Taylor, as well as two company board members: Adam DÁngelo, CEO of Quora, and Nicole Seligman, a former general counsel at Sony.
The committee also includes five of OpenAI’s technical and policy experts – Aleksander Madry, head of preparedness; Lilian Weng, head of safety systems; John Schulman, head of alignment science; Matt Knight, head of security; and Jakub Pachocki, chief scientist.
The Committee Will Work With Industry Experts Before Making Policy Recommendations
OpenAI said the committee will “retain and consult” with other safety, security, and technical experts to support the work. According to the blog post, their first task will be to review and develop OpenAI’s processes and safeguards over the next 90 days and share recommendations with the full board.
The company noted that it will publicly release the adopted recommendations “in a manner that is consistent with safety and security” standards for artificial intelligence systems.
OpenAI plans to appease the critics of AI who say the technology is becoming “increasingly dangerous”, helping spread misinformation, replacing jobs, and even threatening the very existence of humanity.
Industry experts disagree with the notion that tech companies will achieve artificial general intelligence. However, firms like OpenAI, Microsoft, Google, and Meta have been actively advancing research and development in the field, demonstrating noticeable leaps roughly every two to three years.
Big Four Accounting Firm PwC Becomes OpenAI’s Largest Enterprise Client
On Wednesday, the Microsoft-backed AI company landed a deal with Big Four accounting firm PwC to become its first resale partner and the largest enterprise user of its technologies.
PwC’s offices in the US and UK have signed an agreement with OpenAI for its employees and clients to use ChatGPT Enterprise – a business-oriented version of the generative AI chatbot.
The deal will see PWC’s over 100,000 employees and clients – 75,000 in the US and 26,000 in the UK – gain access to the latest products from OpenAI, including the recently announced GPT-4o model with upgraded voice and image understanding capabilities.
In the process, the management consulting firm will also become OpenAI’s biggest customer to date and its first partner for selling GPT enterprise offerings to other businesses.
OpenAI launched ChatGPT Enterprise in August 2023 as part of an effort to target big businesses. The product offers faster, unlimited interactions and is much more flexible when it comes to building customized models suited for different use cases. ChatGPT Enterprise also comes with more analytics tools, which is helpful for businesses.
Last month, the AI startup revealed that its enterprise-tier LLM has around 600,000 users, which according to Hasslacher, includes 93% of all Fortune 500 companies.
The deal also forms part of PwC’s border push into AI. Last year, the consulting firm announced that it intends to commit $1 billion worth of investment over the next three years to expand and scale its AI capabilities.
The company has been developing custom GPTs to help employees review tax returns, generate proposal responses, and generate reports and dashboards. PwC has also been using ChatGPT Enterprise to help clients accelerate the implementation of generative AI systems and has identified over 3,000 internal use cases across industries.
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