Meta Platforms Inc.'s META chief AI scientist, Yann LeCun, has taken a potshot at rival OpenAI because of its opaque approach to research.
What Happened: In an interview with Wired, LeCun said Microsoft Corp.-backed MSFT OpenAI is not as relevant as it once was in the research world.
"I think the research world doesn’t care too much about OpenAI anymore because they’re not publishing, and they’re not revealing what they’re doing," he said.
LeCun's candid remarks come after a drama that rocked one of the leading AI companies in the world. It saw co-founder Sam Altman being ousted and then brought back in five days, and the drama also drew in Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella.
"Research really thrives on stability, and when you have dramatic events like this, it makes people hesitate," LeCun added, saying that he feels bad for some of his former colleagues and students who work at OpenAI.
As far as OpenAI is concerned, the company seems to have begun moving past this controversy – it is in talks to raise new funds at a valuation of at least $100 billion.
If this comes to fruition, OpenAI will be the second most valuable startup in the U.S., only behind Elon Musk’s SpaceX, which is being valued at $180 billion after a recent tender offer.
Another reason LeCun thinks the "research world doesn't care too much" about OpenAI is the Altman-led company's publishing approach.
"OpenAI really isn’t open anymore," LeCun said, a sentiment that is shared by Elon Musk, who is also one of the co-founders of OpenAI.
On the contrary, Meta's Llama 2 large language model is open source.
Why It Matters: LeCun has often been candid about his beliefs, especially on social media. He is known as one of the godfathers of AI, along with Geoffrey Hinton and Yoshua Bengio.
However, that has not prevented him from calling out Hinton – the two have quarreled about their beliefs and viewpoints multiple times.
LeCun has also been vocal about the AI doomsday theories – he has said in the past that the risks of AI taking over are overblown, and stuck to his stance of keeping AI open source so it can be made more secure.
Image Credits – Shutterstock
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