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95% of OpenAI Employees (738/770) Threaten to Follow Sam Altman Out the Door

wired.com

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Re: 95% of OpenAI Employees (738/770) Threaten to Follow Sam Altman Out the Door

#21

Post by ajkjk »

unyttigfjelltol wrote: post #18
dschofie wrote: post #3

Makes you wonder how many other companies would have this level of consensus supporting their CEO

It's apples and oranges. Employees are expressing a preference for making a profit versus the nonprofit board. I'm sort of impressed 5% of the crowd might elevate conscience over cash. No other business has been so insane as to pursue a naked profit objective under the guise of a nonprofit operation. The fact that Altman did so is not a virtue, in my opinion.

I kinda doubt that. I imagine they're mostly mad about the injustice and unilateralness of it. For all we know the employees would make the same money either way.

Agree that it's not virtuous, though.

Re: 95% of OpenAI Employees (738/770) Threaten to Follow Sam Altman Out the Door

#22

Post by neilv »

I think it'd be very interesting to see confidential polling that shows, for each (anonymized) employee:

* how they feel about the CEO-in-exile returning,

* what they think the company's goals and strategies should be,

* their individual financial and career goals at the company, and

* conditions under which they'd leave the company.

Re: 95% of OpenAI Employees (738/770) Threaten to Follow Sam Altman Out the Door

#23

Post by ahipple »

optimalsolver wrote: post #13

One of the remaining 32: "Hey, man, I'm just the Linux guy."

Given the timing the remaining 32 could plausibly just be the set of people who are hard OOO for the (US) Thanksgiving holiday week -- on airplanes, in cars, or otherwise indisposed and out of touch with 'work news' for a few days.

Re: 95% of OpenAI Employees (738/770) Threaten to Follow Sam Altman Out the Door

#24

Post by stcredzero »

jmyeet wrote: post #4

Just your daily reminder that there is no value without labor. The board has come off looking awful here regardless of the merits of their actions. That alone is reason why they should be replaced.

Just your daily reminder that there is no value without labor.

Not quite, but so verging on false. Tons of labor with zero knowledge, design, coordination, and skill can yield near zero or zero value. Likewise, there are cases where comparatively less labor can yield outsized value.

The problem isn't labor going out the door. The problem is the knowledge and other factors which go out the door with it. (Something which those seeking AGI seek to change.)

Re: 95% of OpenAI Employees (738/770) Threaten to Follow Sam Altman Out the Door

#25

Post by lolinder »

skygazer wrote: post #5
dschofie wrote: post #3

Makes you wonder how many other companies would have this level of consensus supporting their CEO

None. A CEO with >95% approval rating is unheard of, even considering sole-proprietorships

This isn't indicative of a >95% approval rating for Altman, though—once the first 50% of employees sign the letter, the rest might sign due to peer pressure (even if not explicit), or because their favorite coworkers have already signed, or because the new CEO doesn't have a good reputation among workers, or lots of other reasons besides "when last asked if I approved of the CEO in the abstract I said yes".

Re: 95% of OpenAI Employees (738/770) Threaten to Follow Sam Altman Out the Door

#26

Post by skygazer »

m_ke wrote: post #7
skygazer wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

None. A CEO with >95% approval rating is unheard of, even considering sole-proprietorships

How many people would stand in front of their boss and the rest of the world and say that they don't support him? That's what this open letter is equivalent to.

You may want to double check that. Their letter was in support of the CEO from 3 days ago. Although you’re right they don’t support the new CEO appointed within the last 24 hrs, but they don’t explicitly mention that, but they do lambast the current board of directors — and I imagine the the board should feel embarrassed, but save one, there’s no evidence of that.

Re: 95% of OpenAI Employees (738/770) Threaten to Follow Sam Altman Out the Door

#27

Post by pardoned_turkey »

layer8 wrote: post #15
dschofie wrote: post #3

Makes you wonder how many other companies would have this level of consensus supporting their CEO

It’s probably more disapproval of the board than approval of the CEO.

It's probably a reflection of the fact that most engineers who joined OpenAI did so with the hope of becoming rich and working at what might end up being one of the most influential tech companies in the world. They probably figured the non-profit governance thing is just some weird accounting or PR thing.

I doubt they care about Sam Altman. But they didn't turn down offers from other tech giants to be stuck at a niche AI doomer research shop.

Re: 95% of OpenAI Employees (738/770) Threaten to Follow Sam Altman Out the Door

#29

Post by brucethemoose2 »

unyttigfjelltol wrote: post #18
dschofie wrote: post #3

Makes you wonder how many other companies would have this level of consensus supporting their CEO

It's apples and oranges. Employees are expressing a preference for making a profit versus the nonprofit board. I'm sort of impressed 5% of the crowd might elevate conscience over cash. No other business has been so insane as to pursue a naked profit objective under the guise of a nonprofit operation. The fact that Altman did so is not a virtue, in my opinion.

> The fact that Altman did so is not a virtue, in my opinion.

And did it so shrewdly he didn't get fired earlier, before he was "too big to fire."

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