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I really like OpenAI's mission and respect the people who work there, but last time I read their blog, reddit AMA and other posts here it seems that they don't

I really like OpenAI's mission and respect the people who work there, but last time I read their blog, reddit AMA and other posts here it seems that they don't have any concrete goals

nl 10y ago
I think that "Advance Digital Intelligence"[1] is a pretty concrete goal. To me it means "make computers do things that only humans can do now". For a research organization I'd question if you'd want something more specific? [1] https://openai.com/about/ https://openai.com/about/
- Radim 10y ago
  About as concrete as "End Global Poverty" or "Cure Cancer".
- IanCal 10y ago
  At what point can you say that has been achieved? A concrete goal to me would require a way of knowing it's been completed. > For a research organization I'd question if you'd want something more specific? Definitely. The goal at the moment sounds more like one of a funder, although again I'd hope for something more solid (achieve human level performance on problems X, y z for example).
  - nl 10y ago
    At what point can you say that has been achieved? A concrete goal to me would require a way of knowing it's been completed. I'd say that's a good problem to discuss when someone (anyone!) claims they are close to achieving it.
    - IanCal 10y ago
      I'm not really sure that after the fact is the right time to work out what on earth your goal actually means. To be more constructive, I'd recommend a short term goal on the lines of Identify 5 areas which could see significant improvement to the lives of people within 10 years with the concentrated effort of openai. This kind of mid goal (work out a plan) feels fairly sensible, and should lead to research into how tech interacts with people (or doesn't yet) and how open or underfunded areas may be. Maybe you'll find a big bottleneck that would help but isn't that commercially viable to investigate. Now with some identified areas to work in you can make more specific plans or goals for those. What's the first step?

I really like OpenAI's mission and respect the people who work there, but last time I read their blog, reddit AMA and other posts here it seems that they don't have any concrete goals

nl 10y ago

I think that "Advance Digital Intelligence"[1] is a pretty concrete goal. To me it means "make computers do things that only humans can do now". For a research organization I'd question if you'd want something more specific? [1] https://openai.com/about/ https://openai.com/about/

Radim 10y ago
About as concrete as "End Global Poverty" or "Cure Cancer".
IanCal 10y ago
At what point can you say that has been achieved? A concrete goal to me would require a way of knowing it's been completed. > For a research organization I'd question if you'd want something more specific? Definitely. The goal at the moment sounds more like one of a funder, although again I'd hope for something more solid (achieve human level performance on problems X, y z for example).
- nl 10y ago
  At what point can you say that has been achieved? A concrete goal to me would require a way of knowing it's been completed. I'd say that's a good problem to discuss when someone (anyone!) claims they are close to achieving it.
  - IanCal 10y ago
    I'm not really sure that after the fact is the right time to work out what on earth your goal actually means. To be more constructive, I'd recommend a short term goal on the lines of Identify 5 areas which could see significant improvement to the lives of people within 10 years with the concentrated effort of openai. This kind of mid goal (work out a plan) feels fairly sensible, and should lead to research into how tech interacts with people (or doesn't yet) and how open or underfunded areas may be. Maybe you'll find a big bottleneck that would help but isn't that commercially viable to investigate. Now with some identified areas to work in you can make more specific plans or goals for those. What's the first step?