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Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down

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

#911

Post by sage76 »

mcv wrote: post #837
xcv123 wrote: post #798

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nothing can guarantee that. Investors always accept risk. He has a better chance than some other random guy who was not the CEO of OpenAI.

> He has a better chance than some other random guy who was not the CEO of OpenAI. Yes, but that doesn't mean it's enough. Not every random guy who wasn't the CEO of OpenAI is about to start an AI company (though some probably are). It's quite possible an AI company does need a better vision than "hire some engineers and have them make AI".

> It's quite possible an AI company does need a better vision than "hire some engineers and have them make AI".

Seems like all these "business guys" think that's all it takes.

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

#912

Post by bakuninsbart »

bmitc wrote: post #757
belugacat wrote: post #715

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s a big deal because he’s extremely charismatic and well connected and that matters much, much more for a tech company’s success than some programmers like to think.

I have watched him speak, and he doesn't seem charismatic at all. I remember hearing the same things about Sam Bankman-Fried and then going and watching his interviews and feeling the same. There is just a giant gap here where I simply do not get it, and I see no evidence that explains me not getting it is missing some key aspect of all this. This just seems like classic cargo cult, cult of personality, and following…

Charisma is a euphemism for people starting to see dollar signs when they get close to him. The better you are connected, the more people want to connect with you, and Altman seems to have driven this to an exreme in SV, and the broader policy/tech world thanks to OpenAI. If you look at who is (probably) going to leave with him, it is mostly former ycombinator people or people clearly drawn to OAI through his connections.

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

#913

Post by snovv_crash »

ffgjgf1 wrote: post #681
snovv_crash wrote: post #366

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Because they want to slow down further research which would push AGI closer until the safety/alignment aspect can catch up.

wouldn’t that mean that they’ll just be left behind and it won’t matter what their goal is?

It depends how far ahead they currently are.

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

#914

Post by FeepingCreature »

huytersd wrote: post #657
ryanSrich wrote: post #190

Earlier 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?

They give it stupid terms like “alignment” to make it opaque to the common person. It’s basically sitting on your hands and pointing to sci-fi as to why progress should be stopped.

This is why the superior term is "AI notkilleveryoneism."

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

#915

Post by andrepd »

bmitc wrote: post #709
jmerz wrote: post #699

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he's not as known in the outside world but it's really difficult to understate the amount of social capital sama has in the inner circles of Silicon Valley. It sounds like he did a good job instilling loyalty as a CEO as well, but the SV thing means that the more connected someone at the company is to the SV ecosystem, the more likely they like him/want to be on his good side. This is kind of like the leaders…

So it's a big deal because he has a cult of personality?

Yes.

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

#916

Post by fevangelou »

bmitc wrote: post #785
jstummbillig wrote: post #751

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am so confused by how this question is asked, and the reactions. It's "such a big deal" because he has been leading the company, and apparently some people really like how and they really don't like how it ended. Why would it require any other explanation? Are you asking what leaders do and why an employee would care about what they do...?

Do you understand why he was fired? The company had a charter, one the board is to help uphold. Altman and his crew were leading the company, and seemingly its employees, away from that charter. He was not open about how he was doing that. The board fired him. This is like a bunch of people joining a basketball team where the coach starts turning it into a soccer team, and then the GM fires the coach for doing this a…

From my understanding (not part of the SF tech bubble), S.A. had his shot as the CEO of a company that came to prominence because of a GREAT product (and surely not design, manufacturing or marketing). Just consider WHEN MS invested in OpenAI. He probably went too far for reasons only a few know, but still valid ones to fire him...

His previous endeavor was YC partner, right? So a rich VC turning to a CEO. To make even more money. How original. If any prominent figure was to be credited here beyond Ilya S., well that would probably be Musk. Not S.A. who as a YC partner/whatever played Russian roulette with other rich folks' money all these years... As for MS hiring S.A., they are just doing the smart thing: if S.A. is indeed that awesome and everyone misses the "charisma", he'll pioneer AI and even become the next MS CEO... Or Satya Nadela will have his own "Windows Phone" moment with SamAI ;)

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

#917

Post by moralestapia »

cloverich wrote: post #278
moralestapia wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also, serious investors won't touch OpenAI with a ten foot pole after these events. There's an idealistic bunch of people that think this was the best thing to happen to OpenAI, time will tell but I personally think this is the end of the company (and Ilya). Satya must be quite pissed off and rightly so, he gave them big money, believed in them and got backstabbed as well; disregarding @sama, MS is their single large…

My first question to this scenario would be: Could MS provide the seed funding for Sam's next gig? As in, they bet on OpenAI, and either OpenAI keeps on keeping on or Sam's gig steals the thunder, and they presumably have the cash to play a role in both.

Surprise surprise!

https://x.com/satyanadella/status/1726509045803336122?s=46

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

#918

Post by cjbprime »

seanhunter wrote: post #619
cjbprime wrote: post #352

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

> 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].

Thus disproving your point, in my opinion. There may now be consequences to the board's decision that make their company less powerful in the future, but it won't be because they lacked the autonomy to make their own decisions. Getting to discover the consequences of your preferences is what autonomy is.

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

#919

Post by ulfw »

loveparade wrote: post #290

For a change, maybe it'd be a good idea to get a CEO who at least has faint idea about how ML works on a technical level? Would you like a company that builds rockets to be led by some salesman who doesn't understand basic Physics? Probably not. You don't need to be Hinton or Schmidhuber, but come on, who thinks it's a good idea to have these typical "Silicon Valley VC CEOs" lead an AI company?

So true. On the other end of the spectrum... I just got denied an interview with a company for an SVP Product (!) role because "they are looking for someone with hands on ML experience". Why you'd need that in a leadership role where you don't code anything (as a Product SVP) is beyond me, but hey. Anything AI related is just odd nowadays anyway.

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

#920

Post by joenot443 »

bmitc wrote: post #709
jmerz wrote: post #699

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think he's not as known in the outside world but it's really difficult to understate the amount of social capital sama has in the inner circles of Silicon Valley. It sounds like he did a good job instilling loyalty as a CEO as well, but the SV thing means that the more connected someone at the company is to the SV ecosystem, the more likely they like him/want to be on his good side. This is kind of like the leaders…

So it's a big deal because he has a cult of personality?

Your phrasing here suggests this is some kind of dunk on sama, but it’s really not. JFK and Huey Long both had cults of personality, it doesn’t mean they weren’t incredibly effective and influential.
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