- Microsoft has put billions into OpenAI, but it still doesn't know why its board fired Sam Altman.
- Microsoft president Brad Smith dismissed the idea that the drama was over a dangerous AI discovery.
Looks like Microsoft's top brass are still out of the loop with what the heck happened over at OpenAI.
Microsoft president Brad Smith cast doubt Thursday on claims that the boardroom battle at the ChatGPT developer, which led to the firing and rehiring of CEO Sam Altman, was over a major advancement in AI that posed a threat to humanity.
Reuters reported last week that OpenAI researchers wrote a letter to the company's board – days before their decision to fire Altman – warning them about the reportedly dangerous development.
However, Smith was dismissive of claims that the explosive rift between Altman and OpenAI's board earlier this month was primarily focused on a discovery posing an existential threat.
"I don't think that is the case at all," Smith said. "I think there obviously was a divergence between the board and others, but it wasn't fundamentally about a concern like that."
The comments suggest figures as senior as Smith at Microsoft still don't have a good understanding of why Altman was ousted from the AI company in the first place.
The lack of clarity at Microsoft over one of the most dramatic sagas in Silicon Valley history seems odd given that Microsoft plowed some $10 billion into the ChatGPT developer earlier this year.
There's been a debate raging in recent months about the real risks posed by AI, with a prominent group of "doomers" such as Elon Musk claiming it could wipe out humans.
However, Smith also seemed to dismiss the suggestion that an AI powerful enough to do that – such as artificial general intelligence (AGI) – was on the way.
"There's absolutely no probability that you're going to see this so-called AGI, where computers are more powerful than people, in the next 12 months," he said.
As things stand, the reason for Altman's firing still comes back to the original statement from OpenAI's board that he was "not consistently candid in his communications with the board."
Microsoft declined to comment.