As a theorist in AI, the premise is funny but also really sad. And yet it is a very pervasive premise in the field.
OpenAI is not doing science. They are building a big shiny thing, showing it off, keeping it closed, and making money off of it. That is not part of the scientific process.
It is as if, every time SpaceX launched a rocket a little bit higher, every aerospace department ooh'd and aah'd and threw up their hands: "we don't have the resources to build a bigger rocket; how can we do science?"
Unfortunately, the research field of AI is diseased: it places way too much value on showing off big shiny things above progress in scientific understanding. But there is a ton of progress available to be made by small teams on small budgets. There is so much we don't understand about neural networks alone, even small ones.
OpenAI is not doing science. They are building a big shiny thing, showing it off, keeping it closed, and making money off of it. That is not part of the scientific process.
It is as if, every time SpaceX launched a rocket a little bit higher, every aerospace department ooh'd and aah'd and threw up their hands: "we don't have the resources to build a bigger rocket; how can we do science?"
Unfortunately, the research field of AI is diseased: it places way too much value on showing off big shiny things above progress in scientific understanding. But there is a ton of progress available to be made by small teams on small budgets. There is so much we don't understand about neural networks alone, even small ones.