OpenAI turmoil highlights need for ‘diversified’ AI landscape

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman at an event in Taipei in September / Photo credit: Shutterstock

Lokesh Choudhary contributed to this report.

After a highly publicized saga, Sam Altman has reclaimed his position as OpenAI’s leader. However, the recent events have elicited mixed emotions among some AI founders in Southeast Asia and India.

For Hariom Seth, founder of Indian martech company Tagglabs, it’s too early to say whether OpenAI is becoming too unpredictable. However, “if its leadership continues to be in flux, it could force startups to find alternative solutions,” he said.

Seth said he wants to know what steps OpenAI is taking to ensure that its technology remains stable and accessible.

A Singapore-based AI founder, who asked to remain anonymous, told Tech in Asia that he admires Altman but is disappointed that the CEO is back at OpenAI.

The founder had envisioned OpenAI continuing to operate in the same manner as it does with Whisper, its automatic speech recognition system, while Altman pursued a separate, large-scale for-profit venture. Whisper represents a complete open-source release.

Recent events at OpenAI may be the public manifestation of simmering internal tensions around two key issues in the AI industry: for-profit versus nonprofit motivations and the balance between innovation and safety, as observed by another Singapore-based AI entrepreneur.

Reuters reported that Altman’s initial ousting came after warnings from staff researchers about an AI discovery with potentially harmful implications for humanity.

“In a way, I’m glad that this is happening, as it will dilute the current concentration of so much innovation in one team,” the person said. “Perhaps counterintuitively, [it] may lead to a more diversified AI tech development landscape spread across different businesses.”

Somsubhra GanChouduri, co-founder and CEO at Singapore-based AI Palette, shares the same sentiment. “It is pretty clear we cannot just depend on one or two big companies to build or define responsible, ethical AI.” He expects the new board at OpenAI to have a “broader representation of investors, which may lead to prioritization of profit over responsible AI.”

“I don’t see why the open-source vs. proprietary debate has to be a zero-sum game,” said another AI firm founder based in Singapore.

In Southeast Asia, spending on AI solutions is predicted to increase from US$174 million in 2022 to US$646 million in 2026, according to an IDC InfoBrief commissioned by Dataiku.

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