OpenAI, an artificial intelligence (AI) research company based in San Francisco, USA, confirmed that it has disbanded a group specializing in assessing the long-term dangers of synthetic AI.
The decision comes as AI technology faces increasing scrutiny from regulators and growing safety concerns.
The research group, called Superalignment, began disbanding a few weeks ago, with its members reassigned to other projects and research programs at OpenAI. Meanwhile, OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever and co-leader Jan Leike announced their departures from the company.
In a statement, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman said the company remains committed to AI safety research. He promised to provide more information on the issue in the coming days.
Earlier this week, OpenAI announced a more powerful, even more human-like version of the AI technology that underpins ChatGPT, which is available for free to all users.
The future of AI remains a hotly debated topic. Some experts believe that synthetic AI has the potential to bring enormous benefits to humanity, while others are concerned about the potential risks.