Earlier quoted context omitted.
why ?
because IBM is both bigger and slower?
Hard to argue IBM is bigger
OpenAI employees did not want to go work for Microsoft
51–60 of 264 posts
Re: OpenAI employees did not want to go work for Microsoft
#52Am an employee, signed the letter. I can't read the article so maybe the content is more nuanced, but the framing irks me. This all happened really fast and the offer was informal. I can only speak for myself but I do have a lot of respect for modern MS, and would have seriously considered the move if that's what kept the team together and comp was reasonable. I would be surprised if most people felt differently.
>> and comp was reasonable
A lot of complex issues and perspectives packed into those few words...
Re: OpenAI employees did not want to go work for Microsoft
#53I am still so confused by this whole saga. No one has explained how or why the entire board decided to do a coup, and then simply changed their minds a few days later.
I have to assume that the individuals involved are under a mix of social and legal pressure to not talk about the circumstances.
Re: OpenAI employees did not want to go work for Microsoft
#54pg talks about how Sam Altman is the most powered person he's ever met. Seems we have a super powerful psychopath running perhaps the most important company in human history. I do think he legitimately believes he's doing the right thing though all throughout, which maybe makes it more scary. Sorta like how Mark Zuckerberg seemed to truly believe in Facebook's mission and wound up having all sorts of negative externa…
Look up Annie Altman. Be seated.
Re: OpenAI employees did not want to go work for Microsoft
#55> A scheduled tender offer, which was about to let employees sell their existing vested equity to outside investors, would have been canceled. All that equity would have been worth "nothing," this employee said. > The former OpenAI employee estimated that, of the hundreds of people who signed the letter saying they would leave, "probably 70% of the folks on that list were like, 'Hey, can we, you know, have this tende…
I think it's relatively easy to prove that the main motivation for the majority of employees is not mission alignment, simply by the fact that salaries within OpenAI are in the top few percentile of the field.
I don't believe this is necessarily in conflict with the mission though. Employees are mercenaries, it's up to management/leadership to enforce the mission and make sure employees contribute to it positively. The employee becomes forcefully aligned with the mission because that is the key to their personal enrichment. They are paid to contribute, their personal beliefs are not all that important.
Re: OpenAI employees did not want to go work for Microsoft
#56pg talks about how Sam Altman is the most powered person he's ever met. Seems we have a super powerful psychopath running perhaps the most important company in human history. I do think he legitimately believes he's doing the right thing though all throughout, which maybe makes it more scary. Sorta like how Mark Zuckerberg seemed to truly believe in Facebook's mission and wound up having all sorts of negative externa…
There’s a lot to be said about Altman, but calling him a “psychopath” is just wrong. It’s a legitimate medical term and should not be used for hyperbole
Look up Annie Altman.
Re: OpenAI employees did not want to go work for Microsoft
#57pg talks about how Sam Altman is the most powered person he's ever met. Seems we have a super powerful psychopath running perhaps the most important company in human history. I do think he legitimately believes he's doing the right thing though all throughout, which maybe makes it more scary. Sorta like how Mark Zuckerberg seemed to truly believe in Facebook's mission and wound up having all sorts of negative externa…
One old guy in a bubble thinks says another young guy in same bubble (who he just happened to mentor) is "the most powered person he's ever met."
Re: OpenAI employees did not want to go work for Microsoft
#58Earlier quoted context omitted.
Well, we found out that Microsoft is able to reverse essentially any decision they feel strongly about, which is essentially what "pulling the strings" means, in common usage.
> Well, we found out that Microsoft is able to reverse essentially any decision they feel strongly about, which is essentially what "pulling the strings" means, in common usage. What specific decision did Microsoft reverse? We already know that they had no say in Sam's firing or any specific pull in his rehiring. Or is there any proof we have that Microsoft forced the reversal of Sam's firing?
Microsoft is a billion dollar company, they could hire away everyone at a McDonald's restaurant and buy the location if they didn't like how it was being run. They arguably have less power over OpenAI than they do over the average startup because they could probably buy any given startup outright but they ended up with nonvoting shares in OpenAI.
Re: OpenAI employees did not want to go work for Microsoft
#59Microsoft will be the leader in AI with or without OpenAI. Mark my words, you can take that to the bank. Come back to this post in 5 years, you'll see I predicted the future.
Apple more likely.
Or some other co we don't know about yet. OpenAI is going to crumble. Microsoft will be challenged for trust. We'll see what happens.
Re: OpenAI employees did not want to go work for Microsoft
#60pg talks about how Sam Altman is the most powered person he's ever met. Seems we have a super powerful psychopath running perhaps the most important company in human history. I do think he legitimately believes he's doing the right thing though all throughout, which maybe makes it more scary. Sorta like how Mark Zuckerberg seemed to truly believe in Facebook's mission and wound up having all sorts of negative externa…
I think you're using the word "psychopath" when you're talking about something different, though I can't guess what. Psychopathy is a personality disorder indicated by a pattern of lying, cunning, manipulating, glibness, exploiting, heedlessness, arrogance, delusions of grandeur, sexual promiscuity, low self-control, disregard for morality, lack of acceptance of responsibility, callousness, and lack of empathy and re…
You may be right here.
However, there seems to be a decent amount of evidence that Sam has done exactly what you're talking about.
He manipulated and was "not consistently candid" with the board, he got all the OpenAI employees to support him in his power struggles, he made them afraid to stand up to him (https://x.com/tobyordoxford/status/1727631406178672993?s=20), he exhibited delusions (though I guess they were correct) of grandeur with pg with a glint in his eye making clear to pg that he wanted to take over yc, he did little things like made it seem that he was cool with Eliezer Yudkowsky with a photo op but didn't really chat with him, etc.
Again, I am not sure this perspective is necessarily right (and I may be convinced just because he's such an effective psychopath).
In any case, I think this is a pretty good explanation of this perspective: https://x.com/erikphoel/status/1731703696197599537?s=20