OpenAI researchers warned about a potentially dangerous artificial intelligence discovery ahead of CEO Sam Altman being ousted from the company, according to reports. Several staff members of the AI firm wrote a letter to the board of directors detailing the algorithm, two people familiar with the matter told Reuters. The disclosure was reportedly a key development in the build up to Mr Altman’s dismissal. Prior to his return late Tuesday, more than 700 employees had threatened to quit and join backer Microsoft in solidarity with their fired leader. The sources cited the letter as one factor among a longer list of grievances by the board leading to Altman’s firing, among which were concerns over commercialising advances before understanding the consequences. The staff who wrote the letter did not respond to requests for comment and Reuters was unable to review a copy of the letter. OpenAI declined to comment on the letter but acknowledged in an internal message to staffers a project called Q* and a letter to the board before the weekend’s events, one of the people said. An OpenAI spokesperson said that the message, sent by long-time executive Mira Murati, alerted staff to certain media stories without commenting on their accuracy. Some at OpenAI believe Q* (pronounced Q-Star) could be a breakthrough in the startup’s search for what’s known as artificial general intelligence (AGI), one of the people told Reuters. OpenAI defines AGI as autonomous systems that surpass humans in most economically valuable tasks. Given vast computing resources, the new model was able to solve certain mathematical problems, the person said on condition of anonymity because the individual was not authorised to speak on behalf of the company. Though only performing maths on the level of grade-school students, acing such tests made researchers very optimistic about Q*’s future success, the source said. Reuters could not independently verify the capabilities of Q* claimed by the researchers. Researchers consider maths to be a frontier of generative AI development. Currently, generative AI is good at writing and language translation by statistically predicting the next word, and answers to the same question can vary widely. But conquering the ability to do mathematics where there is only one right answer implies AI would have greater reasoning capabilities resembling human intelligence. This could be applied to novel scientific research, for instance, AI researchers believe. Unlike a calculator that can solve a limited number of operations, AGI can generalize, learn and comprehend. In their letter to the board, researchers flagged AI’s prowess and potential danger, the sources said without specifying the exact safety concerns noted in the letter. There has long been discussion among computer scientists about the danger posed by highly intelligent machines, for instance if they might decide that the destruction of humanity was in their interest. Researchers have also flagged work by an “AI scientist” team, the existence of which multiple sources confirmed. The group, formed by combining earlier “Code Gen” and “Math Gen” teams, was exploring how to optimise existing AI models to improve their reasoning and eventually perform scientific work, one of the people said. Altman led efforts to make ChatGPT one of the fastest growing software applications in history and drew investment – and computing resources – necessary from Microsoft to get closer to AGI. In addition to announcing a slew of new tools in a demonstration this month, Altman last week teased at a summit of world leaders in San Francisco that he believed major advances were in sight. “Four times now in the history of OpenAI, the most recent time was just in the last couple weeks, I’ve gotten to be in the room, when we sort of push the veil of ignorance back and the frontier of discovery forward, and getting to do that is the professional honor of a lifetime,” he said at the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit, a day before he was fired by OpenAI’s board. Additional reporting from agencies. Read More 10 ways AI will change the world – from curing cancer to wiping out humanity YouTube reveals bizarre AI music experiments AI-generated faces are starting to look more real than actual ones One of the world’s most hyped tech products just launched – and made a big mistake

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Tennessee State University announced it will become the first historically Black college and university to introduce ice hockey

Twitter owner Elon Musk appeared to troll Meta’s Mark Zuckerberg as the new Threads platform closes in on 100 million users. Since the launch of Threads, the Tesla and SpaceX chief has been critical of the new app, even filing a lawsuit accusing Meta of poaching former Twitter staff to build the new social media app. Mr Musk responded to a Twitter post on the lawsuit last week, saying “Competition is fine, cheating is not”. On Saturday, he called Threads “just Instagram minus pics,” adding that it “makes no sense, given that thirst pics are the main reason people use that app”. Then later on Sunday, responding to a screenshot of a Threads conversation between Mr Zuckerberg and the account of fast food joint Wendy’s, the Tesla chief said “Zuck is a cuck”. “Cuck” is an insult often used to attack the masculinity of an opponent. It is short for “cuckold”, a word dating to the Middle Ages that describes a man who is aware of his wife’s infidelity and acquiesces to it. Meanwhile, as the Threads app nears close to 100m users, the Meta chief also has expressed his fare share of jibes at the SpaceX and Tesla boss. Mr Zuckerberg posted his first tweet in 11 years on the day of Threads’ launch, sharing the popular meme of two Spider-Men pointing at each other, a likely reference to the comparisons drawn between Threads and Twitter. The Meta boss also responded to two posts on Threads in one-worded replies, commenting “concerning”, seemingly a reference to the way Mr Musk tweets often. Mr Musk has replied with the word “concerning” at least 26 times, according to a review of the multibillionaire’s tweets by Insider. Since the launch of Threads, Mr Zuckerberg has hoped to draw a contrast to Twitter which currently boasts over 250m users but has also seen a surge in hate speech and misinformation since Mr Musk bought the company last year. Even as the Meta chief has expressed intention to make “kindness” the focus of Threads, it remains to be seen how new signups by race supremacists and fringe rightwing personalities will affect the platform. It also remains unclear if the beef between the two tech billionaires is playful banter or bitter competition as they have also expressed willingness to engage in an MMA bout. The two agreed to a physical fight last month after Mr Musk accused the Meta chief of ripping off Twitter with Threads. “Up for a cage match,” the Twitter owner and chief operating officer wrote, to which Mr Zuckerberg replied “Send me location”. UFC trainer Javier Mendez recently said the Meta boss is more likely to win the fight due to his active training, apparent fitness, and experience. Podcaster and jiu jitsu enthusiast Lex Fridman has also said following a training session with the Tesla boss that he was “extremely impressed” with Mr Musk’s “strength, power, and skill, on the feet and on the ground”. Read More I’m a tech nerd who does jiu-jitsu. I know exactly why Mark Zuckerberg wants to fight Elon Musk Musk, Zuckerberg and the bitter battle for the future of social media I tried Mark Zuckerberg’s Twitter rival, Threads – I’m not impressed Threads hits 70 million sign-ups on its second day Mark Zuckerberg trolls Elon Musk with Spider-Man meme after launching Twitter rival Meta’s new Twitter rival app Threads gets over 10 million sign-ups

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A new scientific assessment of government commitments to eliminate greenhouse gas emissions found most lack credibility and would