When speaking about the most sophisticated large language models created to date, OpenAI co-founder and CEO Sam Altman is someone that you should be listening to. After the release of GPT-4 and ChatGPT, everyone has been talking about Altman’s latest venture. Altman views the idea of size as a false measurement of model quality, similar to when chipmakers competed over chip speed in the 1990s and 2000s, and suggests that it will no longer be a prevailing factor in LLM creation.
He believes we can instead make these models better in other ways and focus on rapidly increasing capability instead of parameter count. Altman has found success in his ventures because of his confidence in ideas and the willingness to work hard over the long-term on making them successful. He also believes that safety protocols should be put in place for increasingly powerful models, but takes issue with the lack of technical nuance in the open letter to OpenAI which called for a six month pause on development.
Altman remains open about the drawbacks of current models and the importance of safety because he hopes to engage with stakeholders and create a better future through dialogue. His team’s goal is to construct practical models that offer the most value in a safe way.
OpenAI, which was founded in 2013, is an artificial intelligence research laboratory established by venture capitalist and Tesla CEO Elon Musk, Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates, and other investors. The company is devoted to advancing artificial intelligence to benefit humanity and developing methods to create beneficial innovations.
Sam Altman is a renowned entrepreneur, investor and business person who has been a key figure in the success of a number of start-up companies. Altman is an intellectual leader in Artificial Intelligence (AI) and has been since his days at Stanford University where he was the president of Stanford’s largest entrepreneurship organization. Altman has served as the President of Y Combinator since 2014 and is currently the CEO of OpenAI, a research laboratory focused on artificial general intelligence and a frontrunner in developing large language models.
