OpenAI: former CEO Sam Altman, just fired, is invited to France by the delegate minister responsible for digital

Sam Altman, the former boss of OpenAI, at the origin of the generative artificial intelligence (AI) platform ChatGPT, was invited to France by the Minister Delegate for Digital Affairs Jean-Noël Barrot.

“Sam Altman, his team and their talents are welcome if they wish in France where we are accelerating to put artificial intelligence at the service of the common good,” wrote Mr. Barrot on X. In the race for AI , France wants to create “national champions”, according to Mr. Barrot’s expression.

Silicon Valley star Sam Altman, 38, was to everyone’s surprise fired on Friday with immediate effect from the position of boss of OpenAI, with the board of directors accusing him of not having always been “frank”.

This invitation comes the day after an important announcement concerning the development of AI in France: Xavier Niel, founder of Iliad (and personal shareholder of Le Monde) and Rodolphe Saadé (general director of the CMA-CGM) announced Friday the creation in Paris of a laboratory called “Kyutai” and endowed with 300 million euros.

Strong concerns

“I enjoyed my time at OpenAI. It was transformative for me on a personal level but also, hopefully, for the world,” he reacted on X.

The launch of ChatGPT kicked off a race in artificial intelligence, pitting giants like Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta against each other. Widely considered a revolution comparable to the advent of the Internet, generative AI makes it possible to produce texts, lines of code, images and sounds upon simple request in everyday language.

Despite their success, ChatGPT and other interfaces of this type also raise serious concerns about the dangers for democracy (such as massive disinformation) or employment (with professions under threat), in particular.

Sam Altman has spoken numerous times about this technology and the fears it arouses. “I have a lot of empathy for people’s feelings” about ChatGPT, Mr. Altman declared to Agence France-Presse on Thursday, November 16, on the sidelines of the annual Economic Cooperation for Asia summit. -Pacific (Apec), in San Francisco.