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Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

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Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

#531

Post by nicce »

vegabook wrote: post #493
neel8986 wrote: post #467

Best thing open AI can do is to align with Google and Amazon. This will keep MS on its toe.

I'm quite surprised that this point is not being made more. It's not like MSFT is the only shop that OpenAI can turn to, and you could argue that what will now happen is a full scale lobbying war will be now be waged by OpenAI backed by others who don't want MSFT to win (Goog? Musk?). Could be that OpenAI's principled stand will "win" regulation and MSFT will be in a very poor position.

> I'm quite surprised that this point is not being made more.

Ex-CEO made exclusive deal with Microsoft. OpenAI can’t share anything with new parties until old deal is over.

Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

#532

Post by dagaci »

shubhamjain wrote: post #99

Have to give it to Satya. There's a thin possibility that Microsoft would have to write-off its whole $10B (or more?) investment in OpenAI, but that isn't Satya's focus. The focus is on what he can do next. Maybe, recruit the most formidable AI team in the world, removed from the shackles of an awkward non-profit owning a for-profit company? Give enough (cash) incentives and most of OpenAI employees would have no qua…

Satya simply had to move quickly to restore shareholder confidence. I'm not convinced that its actually desirable for Microsoft to be fully in the driving seat. Hopefully the new division will have autonomy.

Microsoft will not have actually paid $10B as a single commitment, in fact the financials of OpenAI appear to be alarming from the recent web chatter. OpenAI are possibly close to collapse financially as well as organizationally.

Whatever Satya does will be aimed at isolating Microsoft and its roadmap from that, his job is actually also on the line for this debacle.

The OpenAI board have ruined their credibility and organization.

Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

#533

Post by nxm »

pavlov wrote: post #368
imgabe wrote: post #340

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You might notice that Microsoft shareholders are also part of humanity and destroying humanity would be highly detrimental to Microsoft's profits, so maybe their interests are not as misaligned as you think. I am always bemused by how people assume any corporate interest is automatically a cartoon supervillain who wants to destroy the entire world just because.

Exxon shareholders are also part of humanity. The company has known about the dangers of climate change for 50 years and did nothing because it could have impacted short/medium-term profits. In reality ownership is so dispersed that the shareholders in companies like Microsoft or Exxon have no say in long-term issues like this.

There was incredible global economic growth the last 50 years which had to fueled somehow. If Exxon didn’t provide the energy, other oil and gas companies wound have

Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

#534

Post by jacquesm »

padolsey wrote: post #282
impulser_ wrote: post #118

I'm guessing this is the end of OpenAI. People aren't going to want to work at OpenAI anymore due to the value destruction that just occurred. It's going to be hard for them to raise money now because of the bad rep they have now. It going to be hard for them to hire top talent. You have two leaders, top engineers and researchers leaving the company. Google and Facebook come in a grab up any top talent that still the…

There are engineers who care about the kinds of values that OpenAI was founded on, which have just been – arguably – reaffirmed and revalidated by this latest drama. OpenAI's commercialization was only ever a means to have sufficient compute to chase AGI… If you watch interviews of Ilya you'll see how reluctant he is on principle to yield to the need for profit incentives, but he understands it is a necessary evil to…

I'm sure they care. The question is how will they stay liquid if there is a similar or better offer by another party? The kind of interface they use makes it trivial to move from one supplier to another if the engine is better.

Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

#536

Post by nopromisessir »

_mh56 wrote: post #441
nopromisessir wrote: post #389

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was a negotiation. Did they have power... Ofc they did. Otherwise... Why were they negotiating? Its not about who had more power. They just couldn't find enough common ground. Now Satya bagged talent. They don't have to rewrite the whole codebase due to IP msft has already secured. I think those talks were real. You don't build something that long and then want to walk away unless huge differences came up. That's…

I agree with you. Satya (msft CEO) has stated that sam is joining msft. The comment was a general overtone of the discussions happening online. >> Now satya stayed up till 2am to secure up to 40 percent of open talent exodus Are there any official sources for this?

His tweet timing.

I don't think his secretary does it for him. Doesnt seem like his style.

Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

#537

Post by layer8 »

shubhamjain wrote: post #99

Have to give it to Satya. There's a thin possibility that Microsoft would have to write-off its whole $10B (or more?) investment in OpenAI, but that isn't Satya's focus. The focus is on what he can do next. Maybe, recruit the most formidable AI team in the world, removed from the shackles of an awkward non-profit owning a for-profit company? Give enough (cash) incentives and most of OpenAI employees would have no qua…

What choice did Satya have? Nothing much else he could have done in the present situation.

Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

#539

Post by pug_mode »

belter wrote: post #446
shubhamjain wrote: post #99

Have to give it to Satya. There's a thin possibility that Microsoft would have to write-off its whole $10B (or more?) investment in OpenAI, but that isn't Satya's focus. The focus is on what he can do next. Maybe, recruit the most formidable AI team in the world, removed from the shackles of an awkward non-profit owning a for-profit company? Give enough (cash) incentives and most of OpenAI employees would have no qua…

Remember when they did this? "Microsoft Buys Skype for $8.5 Billion" - https://www.wired.com/2011/05/microsoft-buys-skype-2/ To then write down their assets? "How Skype lost its crown to Zoom" - https://www.wired.co.uk/article/skype-coronavirus-pandemic Or when they did this ? Or how in 2014... "Microsoft buying Nokia's phone business in a $7.2 billion bid for its mobile future" - https://www.theverge.com/2013/9/2/46…

Satya was not responsible for those 2 purchases

Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

#540

Post by Fossil8131 »

imgabe wrote: post #340
9dev wrote: post #288

I don’t quite buy your Cyberpunk utopia where the Megacorp finally rids us of those pesky ethics qualms (or ”shackles“, as you phrased it.) Microsoft can now proceed without the guidance of a council that actually has humanities interests in mind, not only those of Microsoft shareholders. I don’t know whether all that caution will turn out to have been necessary, but I guess we’re just gleefully heading into whatever…

You might notice that Microsoft shareholders are also part of humanity and destroying humanity would be highly detrimental to Microsoft's profits, so maybe their interests are not as misaligned as you think. I am always bemused by how people assume any corporate interest is automatically a cartoon supervillain who wants to destroy the entire world just because.

You might notice that history has shown that businesses - especially large ones - and their leadership are very bad at considering the impacts to anyone but themselves. Almost like their entire purpose is to make money for themselves at the expense of literally anyone (or ideally everyone) else on the planet.

Worse yet, the businesses they're competing against will include people willing to do whatever it takes, even if that means sacrificing long-term goals. Almost like it's a race to the bottom that you can see in action every day.

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