Former OpenAI Staffers Warn That xAI’s Poor Safety Record Could Complicate SpaceX’s IPO
Former OpenAI Staffers Warn That xAI’s Poor Safety Record Could Complicate SpaceX’s IPO
前 OpenAI 员工警告：xAI 糟糕的安全记录可能使 SpaceX 的 IPO 复杂化
Two former OpenAI employees and a group of AI safety nonprofits are warning that Elon Musk’s AI lab, xAI, could become a liability for prospective investors in SpaceX, which is preparing to file what’s expected to be the largest initial public offering in Wall Street history. 两名前 OpenAI 员工及一群人工智能安全非营利组织发出警告称，埃隆·马斯克的人工智能实验室 xAI 可能会成为 SpaceX 潜在投资者的负担。目前，SpaceX 正准备提交一份预计将成为华尔街历史上规模最大的首次公开募股（IPO）申请。
In a letter directed to investors published on Tuesday, the ex-staffers highlighted what they describe as “unpriced risks” related to xAI that could complicate SpaceX’s reported plans to raise up to $75 billion as part of its IPO. The rocket company’s private valuation shot up to over $1 trillion after it acquired xAI last year. Musk claimed his rocket company could launch data centers into space for his AI lab, but the letter’s authors argue that xAI’s poor record on safety issues could complicate how investors view the combined company as it gets ready to submit its IPO prospectus filing. 在周二发布的一封致投资者信中，这些前员工强调了他们所称的与 xAI 相关的“未定价风险”，这些风险可能会使 SpaceX 计划通过 IPO 筹集高达 750 亿美元的计划变得复杂。在去年收购 xAI 后，这家火箭公司的私人估值飙升至超过 1 万亿美元。马斯克曾声称他的火箭公司可以为其实验室将数据中心发射到太空，但信件作者认为，xAI 在安全问题上的糟糕记录可能会影响投资者对这家合并后公司的看法，尤其是在其准备提交 IPO 招股说明书之际。
One of the letter’s signatories and coauthors is a new nonprofit called Guidelight AI Standards, which was cofounded by former OpenAI safety researcher Steven Adler and former OpenAI policy adviser Page Hedley. The group, which is backed by private donors, aims to improve the safety practices of frontier AI companies. Other AI safety nonprofits also signed on, including Legal Advocates for Safe Science and Technology, Encode AI, and The Midas Project. 该信件的签署者和共同作者之一是一个名为“Guidelight AI Standards”的新非营利组织，由前 OpenAI 安全研究员 Steven Adler 和前 OpenAI 政策顾问 Page Hedley 共同创立。该组织由私人捐助者支持，旨在改善前沿人工智能公司的安全实践。其他签署该信件的人工智能安全非营利组织还包括 Legal Advocates for Safe Science and Technology、Encode AI 和 The Midas Project。
Hedley tells WIRED in an interview that he believes xAI has the worst safety practices “nearly across the board” compared to other frontier AI developers, including OpenAI, Google DeepMind, and Anthropic. As a result, he argues, SpaceX may face a greater risk of regulation and litigation than other AI labs. Hedley 在接受《连线》（WIRED）采访时表示，他认为与 OpenAI、Google DeepMind 和 Anthropic 等其他前沿人工智能开发商相比，xAI 的安全实践在“几乎所有方面”都是最差的。因此，他认为 SpaceX 可能比其他人工智能实验室面临更大的监管和诉讼风险。
The letter’s authors argue that SpaceX should make several disclosures to investors, including whether xAI intends to continue developing frontier AI models. SpaceX recently struck a deal to sell a significant portion of its GPU capacity to Anthropic, and the letter claims the agreement “leaves it unclear whether xAI is still a frontier-AI competitor inside a larger holding company.” If xAI continues to develop frontier AI models, the authors say, it should be required to publish a public safety and governance plan. 信件作者认为，SpaceX 应向投资者进行多项披露，包括 xAI 是否打算继续开发前沿人工智能模型。SpaceX 最近达成了一项协议，将其大部分 GPU 容量出售给 Anthropic。信中称，该协议“让人不清楚 xAI 是否仍然是一家大型控股公司内部的前沿人工智能竞争对手”。作者表示，如果 xAI 继续开发前沿人工智能模型，则应被要求发布一份公共安全与治理计划。
SpaceX and xAI did not immediately respond to WIRED’s request for comment. SpaceX 和 xAI 没有立即回应《连线》的置评请求。
The letter also outlines examples of how xAI has not kept up with industry-standard safety practices such as publishing detailed frameworks for mitigating risks around its AI models being used in cyber attacks. The authors also outline specific safety incidents at xAI that they say warrant additional scrutiny. Among the most notable include when xAI’s flagship AI chatbot, Grok, spontaneously brought up white genocide in its responses. In another case, xAI allowed Grok to generate thousands of sexualized images of women and children, which spread widely across Musk’s social media platform X. The latter case prompted at least 37 US attorneys general to send a letter demanding that Musk’s AI lab take steps to protect women and children on its platform. 信中还列举了 xAI 未能跟上行业标准安全实践的例子，例如发布关于减轻其人工智能模型被用于网络攻击风险的详细框架。作者还概述了 xAI 发生的具体安全事件，称这些事件值得额外审查。其中最引人注目的是，xAI 的旗舰人工智能聊天机器人 Grok 在回复中自发提到了“白人种族灭绝”。在另一个案例中，xAI 允许 Grok 生成了数千张女性和儿童的性化图像，并在马斯克的社交媒体平台 X 上广泛传播。后一个案例促使至少 37 位美国州检察长联名致信，要求马斯克的人工智能实验室采取措施保护其平台上的妇女和儿童。
Hedley says the number of safety incidents xAI has experienced and the regulatory attention they received is “far out of proportion to its market share.” As lawmakers grow increasingly alarmed by the cyber capabilities of advanced AI models like Anthropic’s Claude Mythos, new security regulations may be on the horizon. The Trump administration is reportedly already weighing an executive order that would give US intelligence agencies more oversight over AI models. Hedley 表示，xAI 经历的安全事件数量及其所受到的监管关注“与其市场份额完全不成比例”。随着立法者对 Anthropic 的 Claude Mythos 等先进人工智能模型的网络能力日益警惕，新的安全法规可能即将出台。据报道，特朗普政府已经在权衡一项行政命令，该命令将赋予美国情报机构对人工智能模型更多的监督权。
“It takes serious investment to rein in [AI safety] risks, and it seems that xAI has historically under-invested here,” says Adler. The letter cites reporting from The Washington Post that said xAI had just “two or three” people working on safety as of January. “A question investors should be wondering is if xAI stays at the frontier, how costly might it be to, in fact, manage these [risks] responsibly? If they don’t, what might be the consequences?” “控制（人工智能安全）风险需要大量的投入，而 xAI 在这方面历来投入不足，”Adler 说。信中引用了《华盛顿邮报》的报道，称截至 1 月份，xAI 只有“两到三名”员工负责安全工作。“投资者应该思考的一个问题是，如果 xAI 保持在前沿领域，那么负责任地管理这些（风险）的成本会有多高？如果他们不这样做，后果会是什么？”
The letter acknowledges that Musk’s AI lab has made some improvements related to safety recently, such as expanding an existing agreement with the White House to allow tests of its AI models before they’re publicly deployed. However, the authors say more disclosures are needed in order for investors to be able to fully assess the AI safety risks associated with SpaceX. 信中承认，马斯克的人工智能实验室最近在安全方面做出了一些改进，例如扩大了与白宫现有的协议，允许在人工智能模型公开发布之前对其进行测试。然而，作者表示，投资者需要更多的披露信息，才能全面评估与 SpaceX 相关的人工智能安全风险。
“xAI’s historical record has been serious enough to warrant scrutiny; it has not, by itself, foreclosed a better future for the company,” the letter reads. “xAI 的过往记录已经严重到足以引起审查；但这本身并不意味着该公司没有更好的未来，”信中写道。
New Watchdog 新的监督机构
Adler and Hedley say Guidelight AI Standards is aiming to create new uniform benchmarks that AI labs can reasonably follow. They also want to offer clear assessments of AI safety practices that can be easily understood by people outside the AI world, such as policymakers, investors, and journalists. The letter on xAI is their first public action in this vein. Adler 和 Hedley 表示，Guidelight AI Standards 旨在创建人工智能实验室可以合理遵循的新的统一基准。他们还希望提供清晰的人工智能安全实践评估，以便人工智能领域之外的人士（如政策制定者、投资者和记者）能够轻松理解。关于 xAI 的这封信是他们在这方面采取的首次公开行动。
The cofounders say their experience working at OpenAI inspired them to launch the nonprofit which they hope can help hold AI labs accountable as an independent third party. 两位联合创始人表示，他们在 OpenAI 的工作经历启发了他们创办这个非营利组织，他们希望该组织能作为一个独立的第三方，帮助监督人工智能实验室并使其承担责任。
“While I was at OpenAI, one of the updates for me was that people on the inside are also worried about this. They don’t have all the answers,” says Hedley, who left the ChatGPT maker in 2019. “当我在 OpenAI 时，我获得的信息之一是，内部人员也对此感到担忧。他们并没有所有的答案，”2019 年离开这家 ChatGPT 制造商的 Hedley 说。
Adler, who resigned from OpenAI in 2024, says that there’s significant pressure inside of commercial AI labs to handle safety issues quickly, which he says is often appropriate to get the technology out in the world. “At the same time, there are some classes of problems—if you listen to the safety staff inside of the companies—that you just can’t handle on a just-in-time basis,” he says. 2024 年从 OpenAI 辞职的 Adler 表示，商业人工智能实验室内部存在巨大的压力，要求快速处理安全问题，他认为这在将技术推向世界时通常是合适的。“但与此同时，如果你听听公司内部安全人员的意见，就会发现有些类别的风险是无法通过‘即时处理’来解决的，”他说。