According to Microsoft CEO, OpenAI's disruption is unrelated to the safety concerns surrounding artificial intelligence.

According to the president of Microsoft, the recent turmoil at OpenAI was not caused by a dispute over safety concerns. The firing of OpenAI's boss, Sam Altman, raised worries about a concerning discovery made by the creator of ChatGPT. However, Brad Smith clarified that the dismissal was not fundamentally related to safety concerns. Microsoft, being the top investor in OpenAI, had offered to hire Altman before he was reinstated at the company. The incident shed light on how commercial competition is influencing the development of AI systems and the speed at which the technology is progressing. Despite speculation that the firing and reappointment were due to disagreements regarding AI safety, Smith stated that there was simply a divergence between the board and others. He emphasized that the new board has a strong partnership with Microsoft. Altman, who co-founded OpenAI, played a key role in the success of ChatGPT and secured substantial funding from Microsoft. After his initial termination, Microsoft offered him a position leading a new advanced AI research team. However, when over 700 OpenAI employees threatened to follow him to Microsoft unless he was reinstated, Altman returned to his post. The board stated that they had lost confidence in Altman's leadership, citing a lack of consistent communication. Smith, who unveiled a £2.5 billion investment for advanced data centers in the UK, expressed the potential for the country to benefit from competition between Microsoft, Google, and others. He assured that artificial general intelligence surpassing human capabilities is unlikely to happen within the next year, emphasizing that it will take many years or even decades to achieve.