According to the Financial Times, OpenAI is considering ditching a provision that would shut Microsoft, a major partner and investor, out of its most advanced technology when OpenAI achieves artificial general intelligence (AGI).
Exactly when OpenAI creates AGI, which the startup defines as “highly autonomous systems that outperform humans at most economically valuable work,” is to be determined by OpenAI’s board of directors, under the current provision. Removing the provision would enable Microsoft to continue accessing — and investing in — OpenAI’s tech after AGI is achieved.
A final decision by the board hasn’t been made yet, according to the Financial Times.
The provision was intended to prevent AGI, assuming it arrives in some form eventually, from being misused for commercial gain. It’d hand ownership of the tech to OpenAI’s nonprofit board, and it would carve AGI out of all of OpenAI’s licensing agreements.
But OpenAI is under immense pressure to raise capital to continue its R&D.
