Why Sam Altman Is Leaving OpenAI's Safety Committee

OpenAI's CEO Sam Altman is stepping down from the internal committee that the company created to advise its board on "critical safety and security" decisions amid the race to develop ever more powerful artificial intelligence technology. The committee, formed in May, had been evaluating OpenAI's processes and safeguards over a 90-day period. OpenAI published the committee's recommendations following the assessment on Sept. 16. As such, Altman, who, in addition to serving OpenAI's board, oversees the company's business operations in his role as CEO, will no longer serve on the safety committee. In line with the committee's recommendations, OpenAI says the newly independent committee will be chaired by Zico Kolter, Director of the Machine Learning Department at Carnegie Mellon University, who joined OpenAI's board in August.