The surprising way OpenAI could get out of its pact with Microsoft | TechCrunch

In Brief

The New York Times on Thursday published a look at the “fraying” relationship between OpenAI and its investor, partner, and, increasingly, rival, Microsoft, reporting their five-year romance has cooled owing to financial pressure on OpenAI, the limited computing power Microsoft is providing OpenAI, and disagreements between the two about ground rules.

Most fascinating perhaps is a reported clause in OpenAI’s contract with Microsoft that cuts off Microsoft’s access to OpenAI’s tech if the latter develops so-called artificial general intelligence (AGI), meaning an AI system capable of rivaling human thinking.

TC has asked OpenAI for comment, but the Times — which talked with 19 people familiar with the companies’ relationship — says the clause aims to ensure Microsoft can never misuse the technology. Thing is, OpenAI’s board can reportedly decide when AGI has arrived, and CEO Sam Altman has already said that moment will be somewhat subjective. As he told this editor early last year, “The closer we get, the harder time I have answering [how far away AGI is] because I think that it’s going to be much blurrier, and much more of a gradual transition than people think.”