OpenAI Assigns New Project to AI Safety Leader Madry in Revamp

The OpenAI logo is displayed on a cell phone with an image on a computer monitor generated by ChatGPT's Dall-E text-to-image model, Dec. 8, 2023, in Boston. (AP)
The OpenAI logo is displayed on a cell phone with an image on a computer monitor generated by ChatGPT's Dall-E text-to-image model, Dec. 8, 2023, in Boston. (AP)
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OpenAI Assigns New Project to AI Safety Leader Madry in Revamp

The OpenAI logo is displayed on a cell phone with an image on a computer monitor generated by ChatGPT's Dall-E text-to-image model, Dec. 8, 2023, in Boston. (AP)
The OpenAI logo is displayed on a cell phone with an image on a computer monitor generated by ChatGPT's Dall-E text-to-image model, Dec. 8, 2023, in Boston. (AP)

OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman said on Tuesday the ChatGPT maker's AI safety leader Aleksander Madry was working on a new research project, as the startup rejigs the preparedness team.

"Aleksander is working on a new and v(very) important research project," Altman said in a post on X, adding that OpenAI executives Joaquin Quinonero Candela and Lilian Weng will be taking over the preparedness team in the meanwhile.

The preparedness team helps to evaluate artificial general intelligence readiness of the company's AI models, a spokesperson for OpenAI said in statement, adding Madry will take on a bigger role within the research organization following the move.

Madry did not immediately respond to requests for comment, according to Reuters.

"Joaquin and Lilian are taking over the preparedness team as part of unifying our safety work", Altman wrote in the post.

The Information, which was the first to report Madry's move, had said researcher Tejal Patwardhan will manage much of the work of the team.

The moves come when OpenAI's chatbots, which can engage in human-like conversations and create videos and images based on text prompts, have become increasingly powerful and have stirred safety concerns.

Earlier this year, the Microsoft-backed company formed a Safety and Security Committee to be led by board members, including CEO Sam Altman, in the run-up to its training of its next artificial intelligence model.



Apple Still Barred from Selling iPhone 16 in Indonesia Despite Investment Deal, Minister Says

 Used mobile phones including the Apple iPhone are displayed for sale at a shop in Jakarta on January 8, 2025. (AFP)
Used mobile phones including the Apple iPhone are displayed for sale at a shop in Jakarta on January 8, 2025. (AFP)
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Apple Still Barred from Selling iPhone 16 in Indonesia Despite Investment Deal, Minister Says

 Used mobile phones including the Apple iPhone are displayed for sale at a shop in Jakarta on January 8, 2025. (AFP)
Used mobile phones including the Apple iPhone are displayed for sale at a shop in Jakarta on January 8, 2025. (AFP)

Apple still cannot sell its iPhone 16 in Indonesia despite striking a deal to build a local production facility there, as it has not met domestic content rules, the industry minister said on Wednesday.

Last year, Indonesia banned iPhone 16 sales after Apple failed to meet requirements that smartphones sold domestically should comprise at least 35% locally-made parts.

Minister Agus Gumiwang Kartasasmita said Apple had struck a deal to build a facility producing its Airtag tracking device on Indonesia's Batam island, close to Singapore, but that still would not count as a locally-made iPhone part.

"There is no basis for the ministry to issue a local content certification as a way for Apple to have the permission to sell iPhone 16 because (the facility) has no direct relations," he said, adding the ministry would only count phone components.

Indonesia's investment minister said late on Tuesday the factory would be worth $1 billion and that it would start operations next year.

Agus, who held two days of meetings with Apple's vice president of global government affairs Nick Ammann, said Apple had proposed "innovative investment" which Indonesia had countered.

Apple has no manufacturing facilities in Indonesia, a country of about 280 million people, but has since 2018 set up application developer academies.