OpenAI's New Approach to AGI: What It Means for Crypto and Ethics

OpenAI looks to be shaking things up by removing the AGI clause with Microsoft. The goal? To unlock more opportunities for investment and profits. But at what cost? As this shift unfolds, we have to think about its potential effects on the cryptocurrency market and the ethical landscape of AI.

Changing the Game on AGI

Recently, OpenAI has been in talks to modify a clause with Microsoft that prevents the tech giant from getting its hands on OpenAI’s advanced models when AGI is finally developed. The aim is to make it easier for the AI startup to secure additional funding from Microsoft, allowing them to capitalize on the emerging crypto projects.

Ironically, AGI is defined as a system that can outperform humans in jobs that create economic value. Currently, if that AGI is developed under the existing contract, Microsoft would have no access to it. That clause was put in there to avoid the model being abused for commercial gain.

According to Microsoft's own filings, they’ve put about $13 billion into OpenAI and just added another $750 million for their latest raise, pushing their valuation to over $150 billion. There have been fears that if Microsoft couldn’t access AGI, they might back off from investing.

Now OpenAI is looking to ditch that clause and let Microsoft access AGI when it arrives, though they haven’t given a timeline for when it will show up. Interestingly, they’ve decided not to define it as just one moment in time. Instead, they’re thinking of AGI as a gradual process. Altman stated, “We’ve also said that our intention is to treat AGI as a mile marker along the way. We’ve left ourselves some flexibility because we don’t know what will happen.”

The Ethical Dilemma in Crypto's Future

This change raises a lot of uncomfortable ethical questions. The original clause was made to protect the development of AGI, ensuring it didn’t end up in the hands of a profit-driven entity. By scrapping it, they’re opening the door for Microsoft's profit motives to eclipse ethical considerations. This seems to run counter to OpenAI’s founding principles of responsible AI development.

The ethical dilemmas don’t stop there. One has to wonder what this means for algorithmic bias, job losses, and economic disparity. How does one ensure accountability, transparency, and control over a system without proper safeguards in place? The removal of the AGI clause makes it harder to align AGI with our values and to make sure it works for humanity and not against it.

The ramifications for the cryptocurrency market could be significant. The up and coming cryptocurrency projects and business crypto applications may receive a boost from the additional capital and resources. But that could come at a steep price.

OpenAI's Shift to For-Profit and Its Effect on Crypto

OpenAI began allowing external funding in 2019 to help cover costs for AI development. Microsoft was the first to jump in with a $1 billion investment, which gave them licenses for some of OpenAI’s pre-AGI technologies. Eventually, OpenAI decided to shift from being a non-profit research lab to a for-profit organization. The idea was to attract the enormous capital required for product development.

It must be said that this change has been met with backlash, even from Elon Musk, one of OpenAI’s early backers. He's now running a competing AI firm called xAI and has filed a lawsuit against OpenAI and Microsoft, accusing them of veering away from the AI startup’s original mission. He has gone as far as to say that Altman, who stands to gain from this shift, is partaking in “deceit of Shakespearean proportions.”

The AI industry is resource-intensive, and it seems this is a critical juncture for OpenAI with the removal of the AGI clause. It’s a whole new game, though it leaves us pondering about the price of investment versus the price of ethics.