Ever since OpenAI publicly launched ChatGPT-3 in November 2022, there's been an arms race among the major tech companies to launch their own AI services and to get ahead of the competition. However, there's some evidence that the rush to release AI products is taking a major toll on the engineers who are coding these projects.
CNBC reports it has received messages from AI engineers from many major tech businesses who claim that their superiors are pushing them too hard to get these products released. One unnamed engineer at Microsoft says the company is competing in an "AI rat race." He also claimed Microsoft was prioritizing speed to release AI products over concerns of ethics and safety.
Microsoft did not respond to CNBC's request for comment. Earlier this week, the company released its first AI responsibility and transparency report, where it says it has established a Responsible AI Council that regularly meets to try to improve the safety elements in its AI services.
The same CNBC report also quotes an unnamed AI engineer from Amazon. This team member claims they were going to enjoy a weekend with friends when they received a notice to work over the weekend on an AI project. The engineer worked over the weekend on the tasks to complete it, only to have the project shut down.
That same team member echoed the comments from the Microsoft employee that Amazon was trying to release new AI products faster rather than be concerned with accuracy and testing.
When contacted, an Amazon spokesperson stated the company is "focused on building and deploying useful, reliable, and secure generative AI innovations that reinvent and enhance customers’ experiences." The spokesperson did not deny the report from the unnamed Amazon engineer, saying only, "It’s inaccurate and misleading to use a single employee’s anecdote to characterize the experience of all Amazon employees working in AI."
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