By Kylie Robison, a senior AI reporter

In a significant development, Jan Leike, a prominent researcher at OpenAI, has resigned from the organization. Leike's departure comes shortly after co-founder Ilya Sutskever also announced his exit from the company. Leike took to social media platform X on Friday morning to express his concerns about OpenAI's focus on "shiny products," which he believes has overshadowed their commitment to safety culture and processes.

The concerns raised by Leike were prompted by a recent Wired report, which revealed that OpenAI had disbanded their team dedicated to addressing long-term AI risks, known as the "Superalignment team." As the head of this team, Leike had been responsible for tackling the technical challenges involved in implementing safety protocols for OpenAI's AI models, with the ultimate goal of developing AI systems that can reason like humans.

Originally, OpenAI had intended to openly provide their AI models to the public, as reflected in the organization's name. However, due to the potential risks associated with granting access to such powerful models to everyone, they have become proprietary knowledge.

Leike emphasized the urgent need to address the implications of Artificial General Intelligence (AGI) and prepare for its potential impact on humanity. He stated, "We are long overdue in getting incredibly serious about the implications of AGI. We must prioritize preparing for them as best we can."

The Verge had previously reported that John Schulman, another co-founder of OpenAI, would be assuming Leike's responsibilities. Schulman, who supported Sam Altman during last year's unsuccessful board coup, will now face the challenge of addressing the concerns raised by Leike and other employees who believe that safety measures have been neglected in favor of product development.

At the core of the tension within OpenAI is the race to develop artificial general intelligence while managing existing consumer AI products like ChatGPT and DALL-E. Researchers like Leike are increasingly concerned about the potential dangers associated with the creation of super-intelligent AI models. Leike expressed his frustration at his team being deprioritized and lacking the necessary resources to carry out vital work.

Leike's resignation underscores the disagreement between himself and the leadership at OpenAI regarding the organization's priorities. He stated, "I joined because I thought OpenAI would be the best place in the world to do this research. However, I have been disagreeing with OpenAI leadership about the company's core priorities for quite some time, until we finally reached a breaking point."

The departure of key researchers like Leike and Sutskever has brought significant attention to OpenAI and its approach to AI development. It remains to be seen how the company will address these concerns and strike a balance between technological advancement, safety protocols, and serving the best interests of humanity.