Earlier quoted context omitted.
I'm still surprised how little attention there has been on the fact that Sam Altman's sister is accusing him of sexually assaulting her when she was younger. His own sister, even if it's not true, it reflects poorly to have this kind of relationship with your sister that she'd say this, and if it's true, it's very problematic. And for some reason, very very little mention of this. I just find it suspicious from a med…
Where has this been reported?
Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down
611–620 of 979 posts
Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down
#612"I specifically say I’m in favor of slowing down, which is sort of like pausing except it’s slowing down. If we’re at a speed of 10 right now, a pause is reducing to 0. I think we should aim for a 1-2 instead." - Emmett Shear, Sep 16, 2023 https://twitter.com/eshear/status/1703178063306203397?t=8nHS...
Wouldn't simply others pick up the slack then?
We're about to find out
Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down
#613Through all of this, no one has cogently explained why Altman leaving is such a big deal. Why would workers immediately quit their job when he has no other company, and does he even know who these workers are? Are these people that desperate to make a buck (or the prospect of big bucks)? It seems like half of the people working at the non-profit were not actually concerned about the mission but rather just waiting ou…
stability.
But Altman, the ousted CEO, appears to have been adding to the instability. His firing seems like a step in getting back to a desired stability.
Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down
#614Earlier quoted context omitted.
Can someone explain to me what they mean by "safe" AGI? I've looked in many places and everyone is extremely vague. Certainly no one is suggesting these systems can become "alive", so what exactly are we trying to remain safe from? Job loss?
> 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…
What does "properly aligned" even mean? Democracies even with countries don't have alignment, let alone democracies across the world. They're a complete mess of many conflicting and contradictory stances and opinions.
This sounds, to me, like the company leadership want the ability to do some sort of picking of winners and losers, bypassing the electorate.
Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down
#615Earlier quoted context omitted.
Kara Swisher was basically working as Altman’s press secretary
I don't get the vibe that Swisher particularly likes techbros or billionaires, let alone bat for them.
She's an access journalist. She'll shill for the biggest voice who'll talk to her.
Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down
#616The Twitch guy who now spends his day tweeting about mundane YIMBY stuff? Bizarre…
The whole affair has been bizarre. Professionals discuss all this stuff out of the public eye and execute when they have a plan. Every single move from all parties here has been run and gun and looks like amateur hour. These people do business like the characters on Succession.
I think trump and elon sort of made it ok to showcase the shit online. Like how YC got involved with fighting other VCs on twitter. I have huge respect for YC and never thought they would do that, but here we are.
Again a stark reminder that all of these guys from Ray Dalio to the run of the mill SF VC are all just normal, twisted people who don't know much better about anything and merely had a run of good luck. Stop paying attention to them.
Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down
#617"I specifically say I’m in favor of slowing down, which is sort of like pausing except it’s slowing down. If we’re at a speed of 10 right now, a pause is reducing to 0. I think we should aim for a 1-2 instead." - Emmett Shear, Sep 16, 2023 https://twitter.com/eshear/status/1703178063306203397?t=8nHS...
"That's great, Emmett. What do the Chinese think?"
Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down
#618I 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…
> I still cannot process what’s happened to one of the most prominent and hyped companies of the past year in just one weekend. That's kinda what happened. The latest gist I read was that the non-profit, idealistic(?) board clashed with the for-profit, hypergrowth CEO over the direction to take the company. When you read the board's bios, they're weren't ready for this job (few are; these rocket ship stories are rare…
I am not sure why. As far as I can tell, the board doesn't need to answer to anyone.
Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down
#619This saga highlights something that I found challenging when I was on the board of a startup, and which the board has completely misplayed. The difference between authority and autonomy . If you're on the board of OpenAI which is doing fantastically well etc you're a big deal. You have a great deal of authority . You may well think that the structure of the company and how the votes on the board work etc means that a…
This would normally be true, but this is the board of a non-profit that has no investors. If the board actually lacked autonomy, then the article we're commenting on would have been about Altman being re-hired today.
There have been a few stories which sound like he may have had the opportunity to come back but that negotiations over board control etc (which is pretty unsurprising) broke down[1].
Even setting that aside for a second, that doesn't change my essential point that the board doesn't necessarily have all the autonomy it thinks it has. There are for sure repercussions to this - they may have to make concessions. Some of the seemingly committed funding may be unpaid and the donors may have the ability to invoke MAC clauses and similar to pull it. Even if that turns out not to be the case, the way this has played out will certainly affect decisions about future donations etc.
[1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/nov/20/sam-altma...
Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down
#620Through all of this, no one has cogently explained why Altman leaving is such a big deal. Why would workers immediately quit their job when he has no other company, and does he even know who these workers are? Are these people that desperate to make a buck (or the prospect of big bucks)? It seems like half of the people working at the non-profit were not actually concerned about the mission but rather just waiting ou…
Seems like the board wants to slow down progress which pretty much means sitting there waiting for alignment instead of putting out the work you came for. Sam will let them work to progress I guess, plus a mountain of cash/equity for them.