Reading that page, The Verge’s claim seems to all hinge on this part:
OpenAI spokesperson Lindsey Held Bolton refuted that notion in a statement shared with The Verge: “Mira told employees what the media reports were about but she did not comment on the accuracy of the information.”
They are saying that Bolton “refuted” the notion about such a letter, but the quote from her that follows doesn’t actually sounds like a refutation. Hence the Verge piece seems confusing/misleading and I haven’t yet seen any credible denial from the board about receiving such a letter.
Further evidence: the OA official announcement from Altman today about returning to the status quo ante bellum and Toner’s official resignation tweets all make no mention or hints of Q* (in addition to the complete radio silence about Q* since the original Reuters report). Toner’s tweet, in particular:
To be clear: our decision was about the board’s ability to effectively supervise the company, which was our role and responsibility. Though there has been speculation, we were not motivated by a desire to slow down OpenAI’s work.
EDIT: Altman evaded comment on Q*, but did not deny its existence and mostly talked about how progress would surely continue. So I read this as evidence that something roughly like Q* may exist and they are optimistic about its long-term prospects, but there’s no massive short-term implications, and it played minimal role in recent events—surely far less than the extraordinary level of heavy breathing online.
Atlantic (see also) continues to reinforce this assessment: real, but not important to the drama.
An OpenAI spokesperson didn’t comment on Q* but told me that the researchers’ concerns did not precipitate the board’s actions. Two people familiar with the project, who asked to remain anonymous for fear of repercussions, confirmed to me that OpenAI has indeed been working on the algorithm and has applied it to math problems. But contrary to the worries of some of their colleagues, they expressed skepticism that this could have been considered a breakthrough awesome enough to provoke existential dread...The OpenAI spokesperson would only say that the company is always doing research and working on new ideas.
Reading that page, The Verge’s claim seems to all hinge on this part:
They are saying that Bolton “refuted” the notion about such a letter, but the quote from her that follows doesn’t actually sounds like a refutation. Hence the Verge piece seems confusing/misleading and I haven’t yet seen any credible denial from the board about receiving such a letter.
Further evidence: the OA official announcement from Altman today about returning to the status quo ante bellum and Toner’s official resignation tweets all make no mention or hints of Q* (in addition to the complete radio silence about Q* since the original Reuters report). Toner’s tweet, in particular:
See also https://twitter.com/sama/status/1730032994474475554 https://twitter.com/sama/status/1730033079975366839 and the below Verge article where again, the blame is all placed on governance & ‘communication breakdown’ and the planned independent investigation is appealed to repeatedly.
EDIT: Altman evaded comment on Q*, but did not deny its existence and mostly talked about how progress would surely continue. So I read this as evidence that something roughly like Q* may exist and they are optimistic about its long-term prospects, but there’s no massive short-term implications, and it played minimal role in recent events—surely far less than the extraordinary level of heavy breathing online.
Atlantic (see also) continues to reinforce this assessment: real, but not important to the drama.