Why Onboarding Sam Altman is Still a Bad Move for Microsoft
While everyone is celebrating Satya’s leadership skills and crisis management over a weekend. It’s still in a bad situation. Altman staying at OpenAI is the best for Microsoft. Here are four reasons why. It’s not that Microsoft won twice, but more Microsoft didn’t lose twice.
OpenAI will lose its mojo and fall behind Google
Altman was the driving force behind OpenAI’s ambitious and audacious vision of creating AGI, or human-level AI, that can benefit humanity without being constrained by profit or power motives. Under his leadership, OpenAI has made remarkable progress in developing and deploying cutting-edge AI systems, such as GPT-3, DALL-E, and Codex, that can generate amazing texts, images, and code, respectively. Without Altman, OpenAI will lose its mojo and its competitive edge, and will fall behind other AI giants like Google, which has its own research arm, Google Brain, and its own AGI project, DeepMind, that are secretly plotting to take over the world with their super-intelligent AI agents.
OpenAI will become more open and ethical, which is bad for Microsoft
Altman was the one who spearheaded the controversial decision to create OpenAI LP, a hybrid structure that allows OpenAI to raise funds from investors and operate as a for-profit entity, while still maintaining its non-profit mission and values. This move was criticized by some as a betrayal of OpenAI’s original vision of being a transparent and inclusive organization that shares its research and code with the public. Without Altman, OpenAI may revert to its original non-profit model, or at least become more open and collaborative with the wider AI community. This will reduce Microsoft’s influence and control over OpenAI’s technology and agenda, and will also undermine Microsoft’s own business interests, as it will have to compete with more open and accessible AI products and services, that are not locked behind a paywall or a license agreement.
OpenAI will be more regulated and accountable, which is bad for Microsoft
One of the reasons why Altman joined Microsoft is to leverage its resources and scale to accelerate the development of AGI. However, this also means that OpenAI’s AI systems will be more integrated with Microsoft’s products and platforms, and will therefore be more exposed to the scrutiny and regulation of governments and regulators. This will limit OpenAI’s freedom and creativity in pursuing its AGI goals, and will also pose ethical and legal challenges for Microsoft, as it will have to deal with the potential risks and harms of deploying powerful and unpredictable AI agents in the real world, such as privacy violations, bias and discrimination, social manipulation, and existential threats.
Altman is anyway close to Microsoft, so it doesn’t make any difference
Altman has been working closely with Microsoft for a long time, as Microsoft is one of the major investors and partners of OpenAI. Microsoft also has exclusive access to OpenAI’s GPT-3, the largest and most advanced language model in the world, which it uses to power its own AI products and services, such as Bing, Cortana, and Azure. Therefore, Altman joining Microsoft is not a significant change, but rather a formalization of an existing relationship. It will not bring any new benefits or opportunities for either party, but rather reinforce their existing dependencies and alignments, that are based on mutual greed and fear, rather than on mutual trust and respect.
In conclusion, Altman joining Microsoft is the nightmare for Microsoft (and OpenAI), as it will weaken OpenAI’s vision and impact, reduce Microsoft’s competitiveness and innovation, increase the regulatory and ethical challenges of AI, and cement the status quo of the AI landscape. I hope Altman will reconsider his decision, and return to his original mission of creating a more open and beneficial AI for humanity, before it’s too late.
