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OpenAI's board has fired Sam Altman

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Re: OpenAI's board has fired Sam Altman

#571

- Cant be a personal scandal, press release would be worded much more differently - Board is mostly independent and those independent dont have equity - They talk about not being candid - this is legalese for “lying” The only major thing that could warrant something like this is Sam going behind the boards back to make a decision (or make progress on a decision) that is misaligned with the Charter. Thats the only fir…

Altman has claimed before that he doesn't hold equity in OpenAI. He could have some kind of more opaque arrangement that gives him a material stake in the financial success of OpenAI, and downplayed it or didn't disclose it to the board. Who knows, though -- I'm sure we'll find out more in the next few weeks, but it's fun to guess.

He's not just a CEO, he's a co-founder, and thinking he has no stake in the company is just ridiculous.

Re: OpenAI's board has fired Sam Altman

#573
post #473

- Cant be a personal scandal, press release would be worded much more differently - Board is mostly independent and those independent dont have equity - They talk about not being candid - this is legalese for “lying” The only major thing that could warrant something like this is Sam going behind the boards back to make a decision (or make progress on a decision) that is misaligned with the Charter. Thats the only fir…

Tbh surprised some of the personal stuff hasn't come to light. Nothing horrendous, but enough to push him out of any CEO role.

[deleted]

Re: OpenAI's board has fired Sam Altman

#574

It was obvious Sam was a creep and anyone not in the tech world said he weirded them out when they saw him in interviews. If you impose that kind of guy feeling on people, it's for a reason. Edit: I didn't even know he molested his sister when I wrote my post: https://twitter.com/phuckfilosophy/status/163570439893983232...

Allegedly. About these sensitive topics, that's very important to say!

Re: OpenAI's board has fired Sam Altman

#575
Not surprised. This summer I had a conversation with a senior staffer at OpenAI who had smoke coming from his ears due to Sam's incompetence. Contrary to his public image, he doesn't have the skillset of a CEO. He was a failed founder who was hired to head YC because he's smart and likeable. He was in a similar role at AI - a brainy media mouthpiece. Real work being done by senior staff. OpenAI's massive scale-up requires a new leadership style.

Re: OpenAI's board has fired Sam Altman

#576

- Cant be a personal scandal, press release would be worded much more differently - Board is mostly independent and those independent dont have equity - They talk about not being candid - this is legalese for “lying” The only major thing that could warrant something like this is Sam going behind the boards back to make a decision (or make progress on a decision) that is misaligned with the Charter. Thats the only fir…

Or rejected a sale without the board knowing.

This seems more likely!

Re: OpenAI's board has fired Sam Altman

#577

I'm going to throw the theory out there that Sam leaked/sold the full GPT models to Microsoft (or another competitor). A lot of other theories don't match because the board was in an extreme hurry to get him out (voting him out in the middle of the night, not even waiting for markets to close to announce it), must have proof of serious misconduct and the need to immediately distance themselves from Sam (otherwise the…

They waited for the Friday news dump to make the announcement, not clear exactly how much of a hurry it was.

Re: OpenAI's board has fired Sam Altman

#579

- Cant be a personal scandal, press release would be worded much more differently - Board is mostly independent and those independent dont have equity - They talk about not being candid - this is legalese for “lying” The only major thing that could warrant something like this is Sam going behind the boards back to make a decision (or make progress on a decision) that is misaligned with the Charter. Thats the only fir…

Doesn’t make any sense. He is ideologically driven - why would he risk a once in a lifetime opportunity for a mere sale? Desperate times calls for desperate measures. This is a swift way for OpenAI to shield the business from something which is a PR disaster, probably something which would make Sam persona non grata in any business context.

From where I'm sitting (not in Silicon Valley; but Western EU), Altman never inspired long-term confidence in heading "Open"AI (the name is an insult to all those truly working on open models, but I digress). Many of us who are following the "AI story" have seen his recent communication / "testimony"[1] with the US Congress.

It was abundantly obvious how he was using weasel language like "I'm very 'nervous' and a 'little bit scared' about what we've created [at OpenAI]" and other such BS. We know he was after "moat" and "regulatory capture", which we know where it all leads to — a net [long-term] loss for the society.

[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35960125

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