OpenAI forms new safety committee

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OPENAI FORMS NEW SAFETY COMMITTEE 🙏

I once dated a girl named Safety, but she never put me first. 🫤

What’s new? OpenAI announced the formation of a new safety committee and confirmed the training of its next major AI model.

What’s the committee? The newly established safety and security committee, led by outside chairman Bret Taylor and several board members, aims to evaluate and enhance OpenAI’s safety protocols over the next 90 days, which will be concluded with a publicly released report. Notable experts like former cybersecurity official Rob Joyce and ex-DOJ official John Carlin will be consulted by the committee. This comes after OpenAI’s co-founder Ilya Sutskever and researcher Jan Leike left the company two weeks ago, leading to the disbanding of the “superalignment team,” which focused on assessing and mitigating long-term AI risks.

What’s the model? Though OpenAI confirmed the commencement of training its next large language model, there hasn’t been many details released about its capabilities. What we do know, however, is that it is anticipated to surpass GPT-4 in scale, with updates expected later this year. This follows remarks from Microsoft (OpenAI’s largest partner) CTO Kevin Scott, who described the new model as “significantly larger” than GPT-4.

MLB TO USE COMPUTER VISION TO HELP UMPIRES? ⚾️

Q: Where do baseball catchers sit during dinner?

A: Behind the plate. 🍽️

What’s new? Major League Baseball (MLB) commissioner Rob Manfred recently outlined a potential approach for introducing an automated ball-strike system (ABS) in the major leagues. This would help control controversial, subjective calls from human umpires which can significantly impact game outcomes.

How might this work? Manfred indicated that a challenge-based ABS, favored by many players, might be the initial implementation method. The ABS system, already being tested in minor leagues (above), involves the Hawk-Eye system making calls and relaying them through the umpire. At first, these challenges would be limited, encouraging strategic use and maintaining human umpire authority.

SCHOOL DISTRICT USES AI BUS SOLUTION TO SAVE $500,000 🚌

I would consider being a bus driver, but I just don’t like when people talk behind my back. 🙃

What happened? Despite offering training and higher salaries for bus drivers, districts like Colorado Springs School District 11 continually struggle to find candidates. In spite of this, they found a way to use AI to solve their problem and save hundreds of thousands of dollars.

What’s the problem? The nationwide shortage of school bus drivers has left many students without reliable transportation. In 2023, the number of bus drivers in K-12 schools dropped to about 192,400, a 15.1% decline since 2019, according to the Economic Policy Institute. Over half of students ride the bus to school each day, meaning this shortage remains a big problem in the world of education.

How did AI solve the problem? Starting the school year with a budget for 110 bus drivers, Colorado Springs School District 11 was only able to hire around 60. To address this, District 11 partnered with RouteWise AI, developed by rideshare company HopSkipDrive. This tool uses AI to optimize routes by evaluating all available vehicles, drivers, and routes. The AI can draft all the best routes within hours to ensure optimal timing and use of resources. By using this service, parents also get notifications to ensure safety and communication. One parent explained, “I get a text message knowing that he’s been picked up and a text message saying that he’s been dropped off. And then, I don't have to worry about it.” Now, District 11 operates about 55 bus routes, supplemented by rideshare services with trained drivers undergoing rigorous background checks. The AI tool, costing around $50,000 for the large district, saved the district over half a million dollars in the past year. Superintendent Michael Gaal noted that savings from the service helped preserve at least ten teaching positions and actually raised pay for drivers, enhancing opportunities for both students and workers.

“WATCH THIS” WEDNESDAY 👀

On the day of the ChatGPT-4o announcement, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman sat down to share behind-the-scenes details of the launch and offer his predictions for the future of AI. Check it out below! 👇

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