OpenAI investigation concludes — but key questions remain

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Welcome back, Superhuman

The saga at OpenAI that began with Sam Altman’s firing last year is finally coming to an end. Or is it? Altman’s back on OpenAI’s board, but many questions still remained unanswered.

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TODAY’S MENU

• Sam Altman rejoins OpenAI’s board — but the future remains uncertain

• Bloomberg analysis finds racial bias when ChatGPT is used for hiring

• Chart: Experts predict how AI will impact people’s lives by 2040

• Tutorial: How to create effective presentations with PopAI

• 5 new AI tools to boost your productivity

• AI Generated Images: NYC Retro Penthouse

NEWS

Today in AI & Tech

• Time’s Ticking: TikTok users flood Congress with calls to stop app’s potential ban after TikTok sent users pop-up messages urging them to oppose the legislation.

• Apple Ambitions: Siri cofounder says Siri will "become a real force in the AI arena" in 2024, adding that "Apple is uniquely positioned to enable new, useful and unexpected LLM use cases."

• Safe Surfing: Reddit is reportedly launching an AI-powered filter that will detect and flag harassment on the platform.

• Germ Warfare: At least 90 scientists signed an agreement to prevent the creation of AI bioweapons, although they noted the benefits of using AI for biology far exceed the risks.

• Silicon Standoff: China is raising $27bn for the development of new chip technologies as the US clamps down on the nation’s access to high-tech semiconductors.

NEXT IN AI

Sam Altman rejoins OpenAI’s board — but the saga is far from over

He’s back. An investigation into Sam Altman’s firing in November last year has concluded, and the company’s board has unanimously backed Altman and restored his seat. Altman rejoins the board along with three new members:

• Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann, who also serves on the board of Pfizer.

• Nicole Seligman, former EVP and Global General Counsel of Sony.

• Fidji Simo, CEO and Chair of Instacart.

The board also announced improvements to OpenAI’s governance structure, which includes a new set of corporate governance guidelines, and changes to the company’s conflict of interest policy.

But the saga is far from over. An article from the New York Times last week alleged that Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati had gone to the board and raised questions about Altman’s management before his ouster. Murati denied the report on X and called the claims misleading.

Altman appeared to back Murati in a statement posted on X, saying “i want to thank mira for our strong partnership and her leadership during the drama.“ Altman also said he has learned from the episode, admitting that he “should have handled that situation with more grace and care.“

Could there be one final twist in the tale? Cofounder llya Sutskever, who voted for Altman to be fired before reversing his position, has not been heard from publicly and has not posted on social media platforms since shortly after Altman’s firing. His status at the company is unclear. Several questions about what transpired behind the scenes also remain unanswered.

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AI & EMPLOYMENT

Tests find racial bias when ChatGPT is used for recruiting

Most job applicants hope their resume will be carefully reviewed by a real-life hiring manager. But a 2022 survey found that’s not always the case.

Nearly two-thirds of HR workers say their organizations have used AI to help weed out candidates. Some firms argue that besides saving time, this practice helps reduce the chance that a recruiter’s internal biases could impact hiring decisions.

But a new Bloomberg analysis shows that AI might actually make the problem worse. Analysts created fake candidates who had identical educational and career backgrounds but differed by ethnicity and gender, then ran their resumes through OpenAI’s ChatGPT.

The tests revealed some alarming disparities. For instance, ChatGPT was twice as likely to suggest Asian women for a financial analyst role, compared to Black men.

For its part, OpenAI has warned that its product shouldn’t be used for hiring decisions — or any procedure that could violate someone’s human rights.

The latest findings are in line with several recent studies that show AI can give deferential treatment to candidates of certain demographics. Most experts think these biases are embedded in the vast corpus of material used to train AI.

OpenAI and its competitors have said they’re working to fix the problem. In the meantime, recruiters can try putting their own guardrails in place — like removing names before running applications through AI platforms.

CHART

Experts’ views on AI’s level of impact on personal lives

According to a recent Elon University survey, more than half of internet experts think AI will have a negative impact on people’s basic human rights by the year 2040. Nearly eight in ten believe AI will worsen people’s privacy.

But experts have a more favorable view of AI when it comes to helping with day-to-day tasks and shopping for goods and services. More than 70% of those surveyed predicted AI would have a positive impact on those parts of people’s personal lives.

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AI AT WORK

How to create effective presentations with PopAI

• Go to the PopAi website, sign up with your Gmail account, and select AI Presentation from the menu bar on the left.

• Click on create new presentation and enter all the required details.

• Select your preferred audience, number of slides to include, the topic of presentation, etc. and press enter.

• You’ll get an outline for your presentation that you can edit. You can also change the theme at this point if you want to.

• Now click on the Create Presentation button.

• The app will generate a fully customized presentation on your topic. You can download and share it with others.

For the above example, I created a presentation on “AI in Healthcare and Medical Sciences“

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AI GENERATED IMAGES

Retro Penthouse in Gotham City

Prompt: an image in the EC comics style of the 1950’s of a [insert room] in a nyc penthouse designed in a retro futurist style. - stylize 450

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Until next time!

Zain

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