ChatGPT and its many AI-powered chatbot variants have certainly been making waves, but the company’s development of the next major step of the tech, GPT-5, has been paused for the time being. This comes with the circulation of an open letter about the safety of future systems that was signed by some tech leaders, asking companies such as OpenAI to put a pause on their AI development.
At an MIT event, co-founder and CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, discussed the letter and seemed to think that the statement missed a lot of important nuances as to what people wanted it to achieve, as well as focusing on the company’s future plans with GPT-5. He argued that OpenAI “are not and won’t for some time” be training this new model. Altman also acknowledged that safety issues were at the forefront of many of the requests and stated that the team were looking into other avenues of development that “have all sorts of safety issues that are important to address”.
This news comes as somewhat of a relief for many, as the development of AI tech has sped up over the past few years and the release of sophisticated chatbots has come as no surprise. However, with the lack of updates to ChatGPT in its current form, we will have a bit more space to reflect on the technology that has occurred, as well as think of the potential implications.
OpenAI is one of the leading players in the AI industry, and has been since its founding in 2015. The company has been known to make big strides in developing world-leading AI models, with notable projects such as GrossBERT, GPT-2 and GPT-3. The CEO, Sam Altman, is also one of the most influential people in the world and was named one of America’s most admired in 2018. He has a long history in the technology start-up world and has been a key figure in OpenAI’s success.
To better understand the implications that the tech is having, it would beneficial to take a step back and consider the implications of ChatGPT and other AI-powered chatbots. It is unknown how long these pauses of development will last and if the team at OpenAI will decide to continue development when it is deemed safe. However, for now, it might be wise to enjoy the current form of AI-driven ChatGPT and appreciate the wonder of the technology without any major updates for the foreseeable future.
