David Robinson, former OpenAI leader: Why I quit over safety
From The Interview · 21:55
Show by BBC World Service
“It's a cultural thing. There's an aspect of this that's a Silicon Valley belief that what's invented in California has a special status. I implored colleagues to bring people in from other industries. And people said to me ‘well they can't imagine how powerful AI is, and they can picture what we're doing’ and there's really a sense that the people in the Bay Area are a special group with some special franchise to understand and deal with this technology.” Rick Edwards speaks to David Robinson, who until recently led safety and transparency at OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT. Robinson resigned because he no longer believed that the industry was doing enough to protect us from the risks posed by increasingly powerful artificial intelligence systems. He warns that Silicon Valley’s culture of overconfidence is leaving us exposed to systems that are becoming harder to control. He explains what AI companies could learn from industries with decades of experience managing serious risks, and what needs to change to keep the technology safe. The Interview brings you conversations with people shaping our world, from all over the world. The best interviews from the BBC, including episodes with Veolia CEO Estelle Brachlianoff, billionaire Mohammed Dewji, and TaskRabbit founder Leah Solivan. You can listen on the BBC World Service on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays at 0800 GMT. Or you can listen to The Interview as a podcast, out three times a week on BBC Sounds or wherever you get your podcasts. Presenter: Rick Edwards Producer: Osman Iqbal Editor: Farhana HaiderGet in touch with us on email [email protected] and use the hashtag #TheInterviewBBC on social media.(Image: OpenAI logo. Credit: EPA/Shutterstock)
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