OpenAI Pushing Propaganda Over Research, Researchers Who Quit Argue

As with any “new tech,” there’s a lot of hype and dreams and enthusiasm about what kind of wonderful future the tech can bring. However, there are also inevitably negative ramifications, side effects, and bad things people and companies will end up doing with the tech.

In the case of AI (artificial intelligence), we’re already seeing that it is absolutely exploding electricity demand, which is leading to far more pollution from fossil-fueled power plants being kept running or even dirtier portable ones being driven in. This enormous spike in electricity demand is also leading to much higher electricity prices for normal people.

However, that’s not all.

There’s also serious concern that an “AI revolution” is going to lead to a loss of jobs and economic struggles. As it turns out, we now have a former researcher at one of these big AI organizations coming out and saying that not only is this a concern, but the risk is being hushed up.

“OpenAI Staffer Quits, Alleging Company’s Economic Research Is Drifting Into AI Advocacy,” a Wired headline states. “Four sources close to the situation claim OpenAI has become hesitant to publish research on the negative impact of AI. The company says it has only expanded the economic research team’s scope.”

The well known AI organization is “becoming more ‘guarded’ about publishing research that paints an inconvenient truth: that AI could be bad for the economy,” Futurism summarizes. “The perceived censorship has become such a point of frustration that at least two OpenAI employees working on its economic research team have quit the company. […] One of these employees was economics researcher Tom Cunningham. In his final parting message shared internally, he wrote that the economic research team was veering away from doing real research and instead acting like its employer’s propaganda arm.”

Well, what else can you expect, really? Is it a surprise AI may end up hurting the economy while it funnels more money to the super duper rich? Is it a surprise that the super duper rich who run the company have decided it’s better to hush up the bad news than share it?

Let’s not forget that OpenAI started out as an open-source nonprofit but then decided to transition itself into a shielded, opaque for-profit organization. OpenAI is reportedly planning an IPO now that would value it at $1 trillion. Yes, $1 trillion. It seems that would be less likely to go over well if it was concluded AI was going to bring a lot of harm to the economy and there was significant pushback around that. Of course, with the current pay-for-play corrupt administration running the United States, do we actually really expect any controls on these AI behemoths and the billionaires behind them? Billionaire Sam Altman made sure to cozy up nicely with billionaire-born Donald Trump, and all indication is that his OpenAI outfit is going to be able to do whatever it wants as a result. Will Trump have solutions for normal working people to help them from losing out as a result? Well, since when has he actually tried to help normal people? His “crew” is clearly his billionaire buddies, who by and large made their fortune by stripping wealth from common Americans, and other humans around the globe.

Anyway … we will see some benefits from AI, but there’s a genuine question what the cost is and will continue to be.

Oh, and by the way, it’s not only economic concerns, of course. “After departing last year, former safety researcher Steven Adler has repeatedly criticized OpenAI for its risky approach to AI development, highlighting how ChatGPT appeared to be driving its users into mental crises and delusional spirals. Wired noted that OpenAI’s former head of policy research Miles Brundage complained after leaving last year that it became ‘hard’ to publish research ‘on all the topics that are important to me.'” I’m sure there’s nothing to worry about.