What are the odds that, if Sam Altman returns to OpenAI, it would remain a non-profit? From everything that the news has covered since his departure, it seems that the board is committed to the non-profit mission, but Sam runs OpenAI like a for-profit startup company. I imagine if he returns, the board will be replaced with people who share Sam's vision and OpenAI will drop the façade of public responsibility and non…
I think it would really be best overall if they can find a compromise. Both a full for-profit takeover and half of OpenAI’s employees leaving for a new startup would seem to be worse outcomes.
I don't follow OpenAI or SV news all that much. Is this guy really that critical to the company? I thought Ilya Sutskever was the genius? Is this a non-compete thing, where they're scared Altman will take company secrets to a competitor, or is this dude actually a major factor in the company's success (and not just a lucky bystander)?
Altman is the commercial streak of OpenAI. Investors are nervous because that's the part that actually makes money. If it was left up to Ilya, it's unlikely that OpenAI is going to reach it's full earning potential in favor of things that are more research oriented.
Of course they would. There's a lot of money and TC tied to OpenAI. Nonprofit status, ethical mission, and the problematic legalese of the datasets used be damned.
There is also WorldCoin project possibly at stake. With crypto and NFTs going down it could be a house of cards. Horowitz is one of the backers.
I don't follow OpenAI or SV news all that much. Is this guy really that critical to the company? I thought Ilya Sutskever was the genius? Is this a non-compete thing, where they're scared Altman will take company secrets to a competitor, or is this dude actually a major factor in the company's success (and not just a lucky bystander)?
OpenAI has the most valuable new technology product in a generation and it’s already monetized. It’s also a charity and could give a fuck about growth beyond the extent needed to meet their goals. The idea that Microsoft is somehow the one irreplaceable part of this formula is completely fucking bizzare.
Well, now we know that once any putative superintelligence learns how to wave money around, we're doomed. All the preparatory "alignment" isn't going to save us from our own greed.
A group of OpenAI executives and investors racing to get Sam Altman reinstated to his role as chief executive officer have reached an impasse over the makeup and role of the board, [...] Altman, who was fired Friday, is open to returning but wants to see governance changes — including the removal of existing board members, said the people, who asked not to be identified because the negotiations are private. After facing intense pressure following their decision to fire Altman Friday, the board agreed in principle to step down, but have so far refused to officially do so. As of midday Sunday, the board had not resigned out of concern over who could replace them, and were vetting candidates, one of the people said.
Because you can't train and operate models at scale with ideology. Costs money and compute. Without funding and compute, OpenAI is a bunch of smart folks with laptops talking AI safety in an office until the cashflow dries up. People who want to get paid or are loyal to Sam will follow Sam. Microsoft is clearly behind Sam. "Whoever holds the gold makes the rules." EDIT: gkoberger said it far better, and captures the…
OpenAI has the most valuable new technology product in a generation and it’s already monetized. It’s also a charity and could give a fuck about growth beyond the extent needed to meet their goals. The idea that Microsoft is somehow the one irreplaceable part of this formula is completely fucking bizzare.
They have the GPUs and there's a GPU shortage already. What do you think is going to happen when they lose that access in $10bn compute? Given the shortage and other vendors being mostly locked up already, there's not much OpenAI can do. And that's not considering that the board is facing immense pressure internally starting from the very temporary CEO that they put in place two days ago to various members of senior leadership threatening to resign (with many employees being paid in options dependent on valuations that the board just destroyed). The board may have de jure power but that is nothing without the de facto power associated with it.