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Microsoft is investing $1B in OpenAI

openai.com

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Re: Microsoft is investing $1B in OpenAI

#21

Post by feral »

I want to take everything OpenAI says at face value (seem like good folk), but I can't help but wonder at the recent choice to keep GPT2 closed, on what seemed like pretty thin safety arguments to me.

Now, the demonstrated ability to produce new models which are closed, but maybe can be used as services on a preferred partner's cloud, looks very commercially relevant? How will these conflicts be managed, or is it more like "we are just a commercial entity now, of course we'll do this"?

Re: Microsoft is investing $1B in OpenAI

#25

Post by vasilipupkin »

est31 wrote: post #14
gdb wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The OpenAI board remains in charge of OpenAI’s AGI-relevant decisions. Microsoft has the right to appoint one board seat, which they have not yet exercised.

I've written up my opinion on the deal that OpenAI gives to investors here: https://www.reddit.com/r/MachineLearning/comments/azvbmn/n_o... TLDR either the public is being conned or Microsoft is. And assuming that Microsoft probably has used top lawyers to close the deal, I doubt it's them.

sorry, your opinion appears to be nonsensical.

a cap of 100x on returns and limited voting power certainly changes the price investors are willing to pay for the shares, but doesn't invalidate anything or render shares worthless or anything of the sort.

Re: Microsoft is investing $1B in OpenAI

#26

Post by ryanmercer »

OpenAi to for-profit OpenAI to billion dollar partnership with Microsoft doesn't give me the warm and fuzzy feelings I had when I first heard of OpenAI. I saw it as "we're going to save the world by building an AGI before someone builds SkyNet" today it is "We've got in bed with a company that had one of the most famous anti-trust cases in the United States and one of the most famous anti-competition cases in the EU".

And of course going after high school student Mike Rowe for registering MikeRoweSoft.com (Seriously Microsoft, exactly no one thought he was you).

While Microsoft isn't inherently evil, I mean one could argue that via Windows Microsoft is largely responsible for the widespread adoption of computers, it definitely makes me feel slightly uneasy.

I'd rather see OpenAI continue to be funded by donation, and eventually royalties/licensing of technologies it develops, not partnerships with companies like 'IBM 2: Electric Boogaloo'.

But what do I know, I'm a Morlock not an Eloi.

Re: Microsoft is investing $1B in OpenAI

#27

Post by neiman »

$1B dollar is a lot of money. Microsoft is not a charity foundation, so the suspicious is obvious.

> We’re partnering to develop a hardware and software platform within Microsoft Azure which will scale to AGI. We’ll jointly develop new Azure AI supercomputing technologies, and Microsoft will become our exclusive cloud provider—so we’ll be working hard together to further extend Microsoft Azure’s capabilities in large-scale AI systems.

Maybe it's because I'm not an expert, but what does it really mean? Do people understand what "Microsoft will become our exclusive cloud provider" means?

OpenAI is great, but suspicious is understandable from the users side when so much commercial money is involved.

Re: Microsoft is investing $1B in OpenAI

#28

Post by codelemur »

arethuza wrote: post #23
logicchains wrote: post #19

Hopefully this is good news for Bing.

Well, hopefully if someone creates a benevolent AGI then it should be good news for everyone.

[EDIT]: friendly -> non-friendly oops.

That's what seems so confusing about HN replies here. (Non-friendly) AGI is an extreme existential risk (depending on who you listen to).

I'm perfectly fine with rewarding the org that's responsible for researching friendly AGI to do it _right_ (extremely contingent on that last bit).

Re: Microsoft is investing $1B in OpenAI

#29

Post by strikelaserclaw »

neiman wrote: post #27

$1B dollar is a lot of money. Microsoft is not a charity foundation, so the suspicious is obvious. > We’re partnering to develop a hardware and software platform within Microsoft Azure which will scale to AGI. We’ll jointly develop new Azure AI supercomputing technologies, and Microsoft will become our exclusive cloud provider—so we’ll be working hard together to further extend Microsoft Azure’s capabilities in large…

Maybe they will use that 1 Billion on Azure fees lol.

Re: Microsoft is investing $1B in OpenAI

#30

Post by kgraves »

neiman wrote: post #27

$1B dollar is a lot of money. Microsoft is not a charity foundation, so the suspicious is obvious. > We’re partnering to develop a hardware and software platform within Microsoft Azure which will scale to AGI. We’ll jointly develop new Azure AI supercomputing technologies, and Microsoft will become our exclusive cloud provider—so we’ll be working hard together to further extend Microsoft Azure’s capabilities in large…

This screams alarm bells of an acquisition to me.
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