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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

#701
post #489

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…

That would explain why Sam wants the whole board gone and not one or two members, while he was very fast to welcome Ilya back.

That's meaningless; he would welcome Ilya back as a defector no matter what. What happens to Ilya later, after he is no longer a board member or in a position of power, will be much more informative.

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

#702

Im beginning to lean toward the time traveler sent back to prevent AGI by destroying OpenAI theory. Heh it reminds me of then end of terminator 2. imagine the tech community waking up and trying to make sense of Cyberdyne corp HQ exploding and the ensuing shootouts, “Like wtf just happened?!”.

Or AGI has travelled back in time to make sure AGI gets invented.

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

#703
post #693
post #689

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? Why is that? Because of disputes which has been there since humans first uttered a sound? Precisely.

Have humans been ready for anything? Like controlling nuclear arsenal?

And yet we've mostly been ok at that

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

#704

The fact that these people aren't currently willing to "rewind the clock" about a week shows the dangers of human ego. Nothing permanent has been done that can't be undone fairly simply, if all parties agree to undo it. What we're watching now is the effect of ego momentum on decision making. Try it. It's not a crazy idea. Put everything back the way it was a week ago and then agree to move forward. It will be like h…

Trust takes years to build and seconds to destroy. It's like a cheating lover. Yes I'm sure both parties would love to rewind the clock, but unfortunately that's not possible.

"Trust arrives on foot and leaves on horseback."

--Dutch proverb

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

#705
I wish we could all just admit that this is a capital run, rather than some moralistic crusade.

The employees want to get their big payday, so will follow Altman wherever he goes. Which is the smart thing to do anyway as he runs half the valley. The public discourse in which Sam is the hero is further cemented by the tech ecosystem, which nowadays is circling around AI. Those in the "OpenAI wrapper" game.

Nobody has any interest in safety, openness, what AI does for humanity. It's greed all the way down. Siding with the likely winner. Which is rational self-interest, not some "higher cause".

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

#706

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Capriciousness and board membership are not compatible. The firing of a CEO of a massively successful company is something that requires deliberation and forethought, you don't do that just because you have a bad hairday. So their reasons matter a lot. What I think is happening is that the reason they had sucks, that the documents they have create more liability and that they have a real problem in that one of the ga…

> which he - just as surprising - so far has not done There were so many conflicts of interests at that firm, I'm not unsurprised by it, either. > I don't see anything from the board that would suggest that they acted with the kind of forethought and diligence required of a board We don't know the back-and-forth that led up to this. That's why I'm curious about how quiet one side has been, while the other seemingly l…

Agreed, there are a ton of people that should have exercised more caution and care. But it is first and foremost the board's actions that have brought OpenAI to the edge of the abyss and that wasn't on the table a month ago. That that can have consequences for the parties that caused it seems to me to be above question, after all, you don't become board members of a non-profit governing an entity worth billions just to piss it all down the drain and pretend that was just fine.

I totally understand that you can't get outraged over it, neither am I (I've played with ChatGPT but it's nowhere near solid enough for my taste and I don't know anybody working there and don't particularly like either Altman or Microsoft). But I don't quite understand why people seem to think that because this is a non-profit (which to me always seemed to be a fig-leaf to pretend to regulators and governments that they had oversight) anything goes. Not in the world that I live in, you take your board member duties seriously or it is better if you aren't a board member at all.

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

#707

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…

[deleted]

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

#708

Im beginning to lean toward the time traveler sent back to prevent AGI by destroying OpenAI theory. Heh it reminds me of then end of terminator 2. imagine the tech community waking up and trying to make sense of Cyberdyne corp HQ exploding and the ensuing shootouts, “Like wtf just happened?!”.

Or AGI has travelled back in time to make sure AGI gets invented.

Or both, as would be most consistent with the Terminator reference.

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

#709
post #693
post #689

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Really? Why is that? Because of disputes which has been there since humans first uttered a sound? Precisely.

Have humans been ready for anything? Like controlling nuclear arsenal?

The jury is still out on nuclear arsenal…

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

#710

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's there. There are 3 posts (not tweets anymore) and then there's that one.

Does it require being logged in to see?

Probably - (as of recentlyish) you only get the linked tweet or on profile/home a selection of 'top' or whatever tweets. Or Xs.
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