Former OpenAI executive Jan Leike recently made headlines by joining rival company Anthropic, just days after leaving his position at the renowned AI research organization. Leike had publicly expressed concerns over safety practices at OpenAI, accusing the company of prioritizing the development of shiny products over ensuring robust safety culture and processes.
At OpenAI, Leike co-led the Superalignment team, which was focused on addressing the potential risks associated with superintelligent AI systems. Following his departure, the team was disbanded, with remaining members integrating into the core research team.
In a bold move, Leike not only joined Anthropic but also actively recruited others to join him in his new endeavor. Anthropic, which has received a substantial $4 billion investment from Amazon, is dedicated to advancing the superalignment mission. Leike shared on social media platform X that his new team at Anthropic will be working on various research areas, including scalable oversight, weak-to-strong generalization, and automated alignment.
Leike’s decision to switch allegiances from OpenAI to Anthropic underscores the intensifying competition in the AI research field and the increasing focus on ethical considerations surrounding AI development. With a call for recruits to join him at his new company, Leike is poised to further contribute to the advancement of AI technology while emphasizing safety and alignment with human values.
