Live data from Hacker News

Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down

theverge.com

501–510 of 979 posts

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

#501

TheInformation: Dozens of Staffers Quit OpenAI After Sutskever Says Altman Won’t Return >Dozens of OpenAI staffers internally announced they were quitting the company Sunday night, said a person with knowledge of the situation, after board director and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever told employees that fired CEO Sam Altman would not return. https://www.theinformation.com/articles/dozens-of-staffers-q...

Tip for builders: you can use the GPT APIs on Microsoft Azure. Managed reliably, nobody's quitting, no drama. Same APIs, just with better controls, global availability, and a very stable, reliable, and trustworthy provider. (disclosure: I work at Azure, but this is just my own observation).

I don't understand what point you're trying to make. Yes Microsoft uses OpenAI APIs. What is the point you're trying to make beyond that? It's still OpenAI software.

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

#502
post #448

The contrast between the media's depiction of today's events with this outcome demonstrates how much Sam and his aligned interests can influence a narrative. The vast majority of reporting indicated that Sam held all the leverage, the board members were about to be fired, and a new board would be appointed which would be much better aligned with Sam. These accounts took special care to portray the current board as in…

How much controlling this influence of a narrative impacts for decision to resign for workers as a protest in OpenAI? I hope that not too much…

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

#503

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyone worth a shit will leave and go work with Sam. OpenAI will be left with a bunch of below average grifters.

What is it with all this personality cult about founders, CEOs and CTOs nowadays? I thpught the cult around Steve Jobs was, bad it pales in comparison to today. As soon as one person becomes more important than the team, as in the team starts to be structured around said person instead of with the person, that person should be replaced. Because otherwise, the team will not be functioning properly without the "star pl…

People love to pick sides then retroactively rationalise that decision. None of us reading about it have the facts required to make a rational judgement. So it's Johnny vs Amber time.

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

#504

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tip for builders: you can use the GPT APIs on Microsoft Azure. Managed reliably, nobody's quitting, no drama. Same APIs, just with better controls, global availability, and a very stable, reliable, and trustworthy provider. (disclosure: I work at Azure, but this is just my own observation).

Question: how difficult is it to get that no retention waiver on prompts and responses?

Not difficult. I've not heard of anyone who asked and _didn't_ get the waiver. It's just a responsible stop-gap in case a user does something questionable or dangerous.

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

#505
post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Her move makes even less sense than what the board did. The board told her the day before that they're firing Sam, so she obviously accepted it. But, one day later she caves and sides with Sam (that's what the heart tweet means)? That's weak leadership and resolve.

Who sends heart emojis to their boss? Is this level of sycophancy normal nowadays?

There was a weird coordinated show of support for Altman by a lot of his employees, quote tweeting "i love the openai team so much"

I also found it weird and cultish. I guess it's not so different than signing a birthday card going around the office tho. "Sorry you got fired, see you at the next burning man"

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

#506
post #499

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Tip for builders: you can use the GPT APIs on Microsoft Azure. Managed reliably, nobody's quitting, no drama. Same APIs, just with better controls, global availability, and a very stable, reliable, and trustworthy provider. (disclosure: I work at Azure, but this is just my own observation).

How the same? Does it have the new Assistant API too?

Basically, yes (there are some variations but same functionality, and much more).

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

#507

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty much every researcher I know at OpenAI who are on twitter re-tweeted Sam Atlman's heart tweet with their own heart or some other supportive message. I'm sure that's a sign that they are all team Sam - this includes a ton of researchers you see on most papers that came out of OpenAI. That's a good chunk of their research team and that'd be a very big loss. Also there are tons of engineers (and I know a few of t…

Why a researcher would concern him or herself with management politics is beyond me? Particularly with a glorified sales man. Sounds like they aren't spending enough time actually working.

My experience of academic research is that there's a lot of energy spent on laboratory politics.

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

#508

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Certainly no one is suggesting these systems can become "alive", Lots of people have been publicly suggesting that, and that, if not properly aligned, it poses an existential risk to human civilization; that group includes pretty much the entire founding team of OpenAI, including Altman. The perception of that risk as the downside, as well as the perception that on the other side there is the promise of almost unli…

How does it actually kill a person? When does it stop existing in boxes that require a continuous source of electricity and can’t survive water or fire?

> When does it stop existing in boxes that require a continuous source of electricity and can’t survive water or fire?

When someone runs a model in a reasonably durable housing with a battery?

(I'm not big on the AI as destroyer or saviour cult myself, but that particular question doesn't seem like all that big of a refutation of it.)

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

#509
post #448

The contrast between the media's depiction of today's events with this outcome demonstrates how much Sam and his aligned interests can influence a narrative. The vast majority of reporting indicated that Sam held all the leverage, the board members were about to be fired, and a new board would be appointed which would be much better aligned with Sam. These accounts took special care to portray the current board as in…

Yes, the media and the general conversation seems very one sided; and I do not see any basis to take a side. Sam being an overachiever, might actually be acting with maleficence and deceit. Why is no-one even considering that?

Everyone is just reiterating that board is inept and trying to undermine them. This does not sit right with me.

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

#510
post #448

The contrast between the media's depiction of today's events with this outcome demonstrates how much Sam and his aligned interests can influence a narrative. The vast majority of reporting indicated that Sam held all the leverage, the board members were about to be fired, and a new board would be appointed which would be much better aligned with Sam. These accounts took special care to portray the current board as in…

If this were true they never would have had talks to bring him back. That's the opposite of steadfast commitment to principles. If Sam wronged them or the company in a significant way they never should have let him back in the building.

The board's decisions may or may not turn out to be correct in hindsight. But it's very difficult to say that this was a good example of leadership or decision making.

Post reply on HN