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Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

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Re: Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

#181

Guess OpenAI that was actually open was dead the moment Altman took MS money and completely change the organization. People there got a taste of the money and the mission went out the window. A lesson to learn I guess, just because something claims to be a nonprofit with a mission doesn’t mean it is/always will be so. All it takes is a corporation with deep pockets to compromise a few important people*, indirectly gi…

How do we know the mission got thrown out a window? The board still, after days of intense controversy, have yet to clearly explain how Altman was betraying the mission. Did he ignore safety? Did he defund important research? Did he push forward on projects against direct objections from the board? If there’s a good reason, then let everybody know what that is. If there isn’t, then what was the point of all this?

He went full-bore on commercialization, scale, and growth. He started to ignore the 'non-profit mission'. He forced out shoddy, underprovisioned product to be first to market. While talking about safety out one side of his mouth, he was pushing "move fast and break things", "build a moat and become a monopoly asap" typical profit-driven hypergrowth mindset on the other.

Not to mention that he was aggressively fundraising for two companies that would be either be OpenAI's customer or sell products to OpenAI.

If OpenAI wants commercial hypergrowth pushing out untested stuff as quickly as possible in typical SV style they should get Altman back. But that does seem to contradict their mission. Why are they even a nonprofit? They should just restructure into a full for-profit juggernaut and stop living in contradiction.

Re: Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

#183

Guess OpenAI that was actually open was dead the moment Altman took MS money and completely change the organization. People there got a taste of the money and the mission went out the window. A lesson to learn I guess, just because something claims to be a nonprofit with a mission doesn’t mean it is/always will be so. All it takes is a corporation with deep pockets to compromise a few important people*, indirectly gi…

How do we know the mission got thrown out a window? The board still, after days of intense controversy, have yet to clearly explain how Altman was betraying the mission. Did he ignore safety? Did he defund important research? Did he push forward on projects against direct objections from the board? If there’s a good reason, then let everybody know what that is. If there isn’t, then what was the point of all this?

Exactly.

All this "AI safety" stuff is at this point pure innuendo.

Re: Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

#184

Guess OpenAI that was actually open was dead the moment Altman took MS money and completely change the organization. People there got a taste of the money and the mission went out the window. A lesson to learn I guess, just because something claims to be a nonprofit with a mission doesn’t mean it is/always will be so. All it takes is a corporation with deep pockets to compromise a few important people*, indirectly gi…

okay, i finally understand how the world works.

if it is important stuff, then it is necessary to write everything in a lowercase letters.

what i understood from recent events in tech is that whatever people say or do, capital beats ideology and the only value that comes forth is through capital. where does this take us then?

to a comment like this. why?

because no matter what people think inside, the outside world is full of wolves. the one who is capable of eating everyone is the king. there is an easy way to do that. be nice. even if you are not. act nice. even if you are not. will people notice it? yes. but would they care? for 10 min, 20 min or even 1 day. sooner or later they will forget the facade as long as you deliver things.

Re: Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

#185
post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

But probably better for Sam to stay with OpenAI right? More power leading your own firm than being an employee of MSFT

He has a green light to build a new thing and operate it as its own, obv. MS will own most of the equity but then he will have something as well. OpenAI is a non-profit, so, no material benefit to him (at face value, I don't believe this is the case, though).

I would imagine he would have leverage to get a pretty good deal if OpenAI want him back

Re: Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

#186
post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Currently, there are shareholders petitioning the board of Tesla for him to be suspended due to the antisemitic posts. Maybe this will be the week of the CEO's... :-)

>due to the antisemitic posts. He can't be suspended for posts that didn't happen.

"Tesla shareholder calls on board to dump Elon Musk" - https://www.mercurynews.com/2023/11/20/tesla-shareholder-cal...

It tell you...this is the week of the CEO's...

Re: Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

#187
Remember when Anthony Levandowski left Google/Waymo and tried to take all the good people with him? Google eventually got him convicted of theft of trade secrets over some mechanical LIDAR design that never went anywhere. He spent six months in prison before negotiating a pardon from Trump.[1]

Is OpenAI getting court orders to have all of Altman's computers searched?

An indictment might begin something like this: "After being fired by the Company for cause, Defendant orchestrated a scheme whereby many of the employees of the company would quit and go to work for a competitor which had hired Defendant, with the intent of competing with the Company using its using trade secret information".

[1] https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-53659805

Re: Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

#188
post #2

A few things come to mind: * Emmett Shear should have put in a strong golden parachute in his contract, easy money if so * Yesterday we had Satya the genius forcing the board to quit. This morning it was Satya the genius who acquired OpenAI for $0. Im sure there will be more if sama goes back. So if sama goes back - lets hear it, why is Satya a genius?

So if sama goes back - lets hear it, why is Satya a genius?

This isn't that hard to understand. Everyone was blindsided by the sacking of Altman, Satya reacted quickly and is juggling a very confusing, dynamic situation and seems to have got himself into a good enough position that all possible endings now look positive for Microsoft.

Re: Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

#189

As I posted elsewhere, I think this is a conflict between Dustin Moskovitz and Sam Altman. Ilya may have been brought into this without his knowledge (which might explain why he retracted his position). Dustin Moskovitz was an early employee at FB, and the founder of Asana. He also created (along with plenty of MSFT bigwigs) a non-profit called Open Philanthropy, which was a early proponent of a form of Effective Alt…

This is the most logical explanation I have seen so far. Makes me wonder why Dustin Moskovitz himself wasn't on the board of OpenAI in the first place.
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