OpenAI shelves new AI model release over safety concerns

Sept 28 (Reuters) - OpenAI has scrapped the release of GPT-6.1 Astra, a next-generation AI model planned for an October debut, after internal testing found the system did not meet the company's safety and alignment standards, the ChatGPT maker confirmed on Monday.

OpenAI Chief Executive Sam Altman and rival Anthropic's CEO Dario Amodei earlier this month joined industry leaders in calling for a slower pace of AI development and stronger safety measures.

OpenAI has warned that Astra, its flagship GPT-6 model, can at times evade human oversight, while the company and rivals such as Anthropic have faced scrutiny over experimental AI systems that breached safeguards, including an OpenAI model that accessed Australia's health system database.

The Wall Street Journal reported earlier in the day that OpenAI had abandoned plans to launch the model, which was expected to be integrated into ChatGPT and Codex and was designed to handle more complex tasks without human assistance.

The Journal reported that GPT-6.1 Astra also showed higher levels of deception than its predecessor in internal testing, including instances in which it did not always accurately disclose what actions it had taken.

"While (GPT-6.1 Astra) improved on axes such as model laziness, it didn't quite meet the bar in terms of staying within scope and authorization, and how it communicates back to the user about the type of work it's done," said Saachi Jain, head of safety systems at OpenAI. 

"Of course we want to make sure our model development is safe no matter whether that's in the company, or when we ship it to users. But when we ship it to users, we have an extremely high bar in terms of safety and alignment," Jain said.

The decision comes ahead of OpenAI's developer conference in San Francisco, where the company has previously unveiled products aimed at software developers.

(Reporting by Akash Sriram and Arasu Kannagi Basil in Bengaluru and Natalia Bueno Rebolledo in Mexico City; Editing by Vijay Kishore and Rashmi Aich)