Live data from Hacker News

"King of the Cannibals": How Sam Altman Took over Silicon Valley

washingtonpost.com

11–20 of 188 posts

Re: "King of the Cannibals": How Sam Altman Took over Silicon Valley

#11
post #6

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It seems there's more to it than that [1]. Altman did a surprisingly good job of cultivating a "nice guy" image among the tech crowd, but I personally don't buy it. [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/what-sam-altman-did-so-bad-h...

[flagged]

It's so important in these situations to gather as much hard evidence as possible (audio/video recordings), from the start.

Voice recorders and storage are very cheap nowadays, keep them on you, running at all times if you ever find yourself in any similar circumstances. That way, it's no longer of "he said, she said", and it's clear who the problem is.

Of course assuming this is legal to do so where you live.

Re: "King of the Cannibals": How Sam Altman Took over Silicon Valley

#12
post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Apparently, but family drama feels a bit... weird to use for character assessment. Especially when a ton of money is involved. There are a lot of inter-family dynamics and motivations that cause people to do things. Not saying she's right. Not saying he's right. Just saying that whole situation is probably too close to home (literally) to opine globally outside it.

[flagged]

Re: "King of the Cannibals": How Sam Altman Took over Silicon Valley

#13
post #3

It's nice to occasionally read a piece that reminds you what good journalism is. On and off record sources, people as complex individuals with multiple truths, anchoring to key chronological events, and only moderate clickbaiting and defensible hyperbole. Nothing particularly new, but a solid brief. Kudos to the Post and Dwoskin, Fisher, and Tiku.

[flagged]

Re: "King of the Cannibals": How Sam Altman Took over Silicon Valley

#14
post #6

This kind of gives away the reason for his firing. He was pursuing his vision of AI incluing a chipset specific to LLM processing that would break nvidias hold of the market. Apparently the BoD didnt like it. They should have just been more forthcoming about it. Some CEOs would get fired for moonlighting. Others (Elon Musk, etc) build massive companies and make their existing companies more resilient and lasting. The…

It seems there's more to it than that [1]. Altman did a surprisingly good job of cultivating a "nice guy" image among the tech crowd, but I personally don't buy it. [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/what-sam-altman-did-so-bad-h...

Too much of a nice person image makes me really skeptical, especially if it seems at all cultivated.

People are people. Virtually anyone can be prickly or have some opinions you might not like. Show me the reality. I can take it because I don’t expect humans to be cardboard comic book caricatures.

Re: "King of the Cannibals": How Sam Altman Took over Silicon Valley

#15

This kind of gives away the reason for his firing. He was pursuing his vision of AI incluing a chipset specific to LLM processing that would break nvidias hold of the market. Apparently the BoD didnt like it. They should have just been more forthcoming about it. Some CEOs would get fired for moonlighting. Others (Elon Musk, etc) build massive companies and make their existing companies more resilient and lasting. The…

> Some CEOs would get fired for moonlighting. Others (Elon Musk, etc) build massive companies and make their existing companies more resilient and lasting.

I don't get why more CEO/founders don't found second and third companies. You build a great leadership team, then explore adjacent spaces that can reinforce your vision of the future. In a way, it can clear the space of potential competitors. Or build potential customers.

I think Altman and Musk are doing an amazing job of it. Dorsey wasn't doing a bad job, either.

Re: "King of the Cannibals": How Sam Altman Took over Silicon Valley

#16
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

It's so important in these situations to gather as much hard evidence as possible (audio/video recordings), from the start. Voice recorders and storage are very cheap nowadays, keep them on you, running at all times if you ever find yourself in any similar circumstances. That way, it's no longer of "he said, she said", and it's clear who the problem is. Of course assuming this is legal to do so where you live.

That's not always legal, is it?

Re: "King of the Cannibals": How Sam Altman Took over Silicon Valley

#17
post #6

This kind of gives away the reason for his firing. He was pursuing his vision of AI incluing a chipset specific to LLM processing that would break nvidias hold of the market. Apparently the BoD didnt like it. They should have just been more forthcoming about it. Some CEOs would get fired for moonlighting. Others (Elon Musk, etc) build massive companies and make their existing companies more resilient and lasting. The…

It seems there's more to it than that [1]. Altman did a surprisingly good job of cultivating a "nice guy" image among the tech crowd, but I personally don't buy it. [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/what-sam-altman-did-so-bad-h...

It's unfortunate that everyone else was so comically bad at literally any kind of communication. I'm starting to feel like the general advice lawyers give of say nothing is a terrible advice, when you have such a public facing company. It's like what you need in that situation is a communication coach first and a lawyer second.

But as an engineer that also never learned this kind of narrative control, I too am struggling at where I can learn this from. Any hints are appreciated actually.

Sam Altman on the other hand has decades more experience is that playing field.

Re: "King of the Cannibals": How Sam Altman Took over Silicon Valley

#18
post #11

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's so important in these situations to gather as much hard evidence as possible (audio/video recordings), from the start. Voice recorders and storage are very cheap nowadays, keep them on you, running at all times if you ever find yourself in any similar circumstances. That way, it's no longer of "he said, she said", and it's clear who the problem is. Of course assuming this is legal to do so where you live.

That's not always legal, is it?

Legal where I am, I've updated the comment.

Re: "King of the Cannibals": How Sam Altman Took over Silicon Valley

#19
post #6

This kind of gives away the reason for his firing. He was pursuing his vision of AI incluing a chipset specific to LLM processing that would break nvidias hold of the market. Apparently the BoD didnt like it. They should have just been more forthcoming about it. Some CEOs would get fired for moonlighting. Others (Elon Musk, etc) build massive companies and make their existing companies more resilient and lasting. The…

It seems there's more to it than that [1]. Altman did a surprisingly good job of cultivating a "nice guy" image among the tech crowd, but I personally don't buy it. [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/what-sam-altman-did-so-bad-h...

Yeah. You don’t get cult vibes happening by accident.
Post reply on HN