OpenAI is making headlines for the second week in a row for all the wrong reasons. A letter has surfaced from company executives expressing real concern over a secret AI algorithm dubbed Project Q, pronounced Q Star.(Source: Adobe Stock)

OpenAI Leak Unveils Altman Secret Project Q* as Potential ‘Threat to Humanity’

In this world of misinformation, disinformation, and maybe information, the last thing we need is more fake Q information. And even though this Q* comes with an asterisk to separate it from the famously misleading Q organization touted by a former president and current primary leader from the GOP, it could still be confusing. And it’s from OpenAI of all places.

With all the disastrous headlines OpenAI and Sam Altman garnered last week, it might seem like bad timing to bring this story to the fore by tech.co.news.

Project Q Star

“As the dust still settles on OpenAI’s latest drama, a letter has surfaced from several staff researchers citing concerns about an AI superintelligence model under development that could potentially pose a threat to humanity, according to those close to the source. The previously undisclosed letter is understood to be the real reason why Sam Altman was fired from the company.”

Project Q*, as it’s called, is said to be an Artificial General Intelligence (AGI), which the article describes as a highly autonomous branch of AI superintelligence capable of cumulative learning and outperforming humans in most tasks. And you were worried about ChatGPT taking all our jobs?

The Unknown

Many publications reported recently that Altman was moving too fast for the board members’ liking and that’s why he was fired. (Then after the market’s reaction, rehired.) However, it seems there was more going on behind the scenes. According to people close to the source, Q* could mark a major leap forward in the field of artificial intelligence by radically improving AI reasoning, and inching the company closer to a breakthrough in the development of AGI.

“Several sources claim that Q*’s has been able to demonstrate these attributes when solving mathematical problems. Thanks to the model’s vast computing power, Q* was able to outperform grade-school students, implying that it’s reasoning skills and cognitive capabilities supersede the functions of current AI technology.”

The website digitaltrends.com, however, quoted AI researcher Yann LeCunn in pooh-poohing the reaction to OpenAI’s development of Q* as overly hysterical.

“On the other hand, other attempts at explaining Q* aren’t quite as novel — and certainly aren’t so earth-shattering. The Chief AI scientist at Meta, Yann LeCun, tweeted that Q* has to do with replacing ‘auto-regressive token prediction with planning’ as a way of improving LLM (large language model) reliability. LeCun says all of OpenAI’s competitors have been working on, and that OpenAI made a specific hire to address this problem.”

Breach of Ethics

AI development in nations around the world is being done in secret as well. Since the United States lacks regulations to govern AI, it is easy for corporations to keep their secrets, even at the risk of unleashing something that could ultimately cause harm.

The AGI breakthrough has begun ringing alarm bells for AI researchers who claim the technology is being developed faster than its full impact can be realized.

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