The Time Sam Altman Asked for a Countersurveillance Audit of OpenAI
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Summary
Dario Amodei’s contingent at OpenAI was growing concerned about the behaviour of Sam Altman, OpenAI’s CEO.
They were stunned to discover the promises Altman made to Microsoft about what technologies it would get access to and were concerned these commitments would impede AI safety.
They also grew more paranoid about issues such as the possibility of a powerful misaligned system and what would happen if different companies caught on to OpenAI’s secrets.
There was also much unease about Altman’s analogy between OpenAI and the Manhattan Project, and whether the company was building the equivalent of a nuclear weapon.
At the same time, Altman was himself paranoid about people leaking information and also commissioned a countersurveillance audit to check for bugs Elon Musk may have left to spy on OpenAI.
