Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down • Hacker News Board

Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down

#121

Post by roddylindsay » Mon, Nov 20, 2023, 5:42 AM UTC

Contrarian prediction: OpenAI will be just fine.

The board will bring in an adult CEO who can balance the nonprofit charter with Microsoft and the commercial business, and who doesn't have a million side projects taking his or her focus away. Some employees will leave but the vast majority will stay for the usual reasons (i.e. inertia), the business will keep growing because ChatGPT is already a worldwide brand at this point and the vast majority of users don't give a hoot about any of this palace intrigue as long as the product works.

And the board will ultimately be vindicated for acting as fiduciaries for the nonprofit's mission and bylaws -- and not for the financial interests of Satya Nadella, Vinod Khosla, and the like.

Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down

#122

Post by hliyan » Mon, Nov 20, 2023, 5:42 AM UTC

_lvbh wrote: post #44

I’m glad people in this thread are supporting the OpenAI board in this decision. There seems to be too much celebrity worship around Altman from all the tech/crypto bros. Also, any new competition started by Altman would be good for the ecosystem in general.

I think in the long run, the board doing (even though somewhat clumsily) what it's supposed to do, which is to ensure the Charter, will emerge as the prevailing view. Apart from that, OpenAI was becoming too dominant, and a new entrant led by Altman would be a gift thing in the long run.

Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down

#123

Post by wolverine876 » Mon, Nov 20, 2023, 5:43 AM UTC

webwielder2 wrote: post #50

The real winner in all this is once again Tim Cook, the only tech CEO to not constantly flail around dripping in flop sweat chasing the buzzword du jour.

It amazes me that more don't follow the example of the most successful company in the world, maybe in the history of the world (hard to make comparisons across eras).

Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down

#124

Post by wannacboatmovie » Mon, Nov 20, 2023, 5:43 AM UTC

famouswaffles wrote: post #25

Murati being Interim CEO for a day to be replaced by another Interim CEO is exceedingly funny. Also if some of the wilder motives behind this shitshow are true then Microsoft will never see GPT-5.

Even funnier is someone (in a now flagged and dead'd post) accused me of being a misogynist for daring to even think of questioning her experience or capability as CEO.

If you are CEO for a day do you get to wear a paper crown like at Burger King?

Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down

#125

Post by dereg » Mon, Nov 20, 2023, 5:43 AM UTC

alsodumb wrote: post #51

I think Adam D'Angelo has a very strong conflict of interest and shouldn't have been on the board of OpenAI. I'm sure Quora views took a hit after ChatGPT. Not like Quora was any good before ChatGPT, they just managed to get to the top of Google results for a lot of common questions. Now, Poe by Quora was trying to go big on custom agents. The GPT Agents announcement on DevDay was a fundamental threat to Poe in many…

Don't forget Tasha McCauley's husband, Joseph Gordon Levitt, has been vocally anti-AI during the SAG-AFTRA strike, an event for which AI was a huge point of contention. It's a poisoned board.

Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down

#126

Post by bufferoverflow » Mon, Nov 20, 2023, 5:44 AM UTC

valine wrote: post #97

Not a word from Ilya. I can’t wrap my mind around his motivation. Did he really fire Sam over “AI safety” concerns? How is that remotely rational.

Because that's not the actual reason. It looks like a hostile takeover. The "king" of, arguably, the most important company in the world, got kicked out with very little effort. It's pretty extraordinary, and the power shift is extraordinary too.

Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down

#127

Post by erichocean » Mon, Nov 20, 2023, 5:44 AM UTC

tempsy wrote: post #78

francisduvivier wrote: post #42

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Indeed, on the Lex Fridman podcast, Musk said it was a very tough recruiting battle for Ilya. Now it looks like they have a shot at getting him back.

How so? Ilya won. OpenAI is now more his than it was before Sam was fired.

A pyrrhic victory.

Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down

#128

Post by kfrzcode » Mon, Nov 20, 2023, 5:44 AM UTC

francisduvivier wrote: post #42

siva7 wrote: post #29

This is more bizarre than an episode of silicon valley. Must be the happiest day for Google in the last year.

Indeed, on the Lex Fridman podcast, Musk said it was a very tough recruiting battle for Ilya. Now it looks like they have a shot at getting him back.

If you mean they is Google and Larry, sure. But in that clip Elon was recruiting for OpenAI

Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down

#129

Post by simultsop » Mon, Nov 20, 2023, 5:44 AM UTC

altdataseller wrote: post #88

TechnicolorByte wrote: post #57

I still cannot process what’s happened to one of the most prominent and hyped companies of the past year in just one weekend. If it’s true that Altman won’t return to OpenAI (or alternatively: that the current board won’t step down) then where does that leave OpenAI? Microsoft can’t be happy, as evidenced by reporting that Nadella was acting as mediator to bring him back. Does OpenAI survive this? Will be super inter…

OpenAI has hundreds more employees, all of whom are incredibly smart. While they will definitely lose the leadership and talent of those two, it’s not as if a nuclear bomb dropped on their HQ and wiped out all their engineers! So questioning whether they will survive seems very silly and incredibly premature to me

With a PR damage such this one, if they survive it will be a miracle.

Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down

#130

Post by skygazer » Mon, Nov 20, 2023, 5:45 AM UTC

nilkn wrote: post #106

At this point, is there any reason to think this arrangement will last longer than 24-48 hours?

I would think that the board would have tried to (or is still continuing to try to) pick someone to try to placate Microsoft, other than Altman.