Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Sam Altman's knack for dodging bullets with a little help from bigshot friends

wsj.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

61–70 of 204 posts

Re: Sam Altman's knack for dodging bullets with a little help from bigshot friends

#61

Post by JumpCrisscross »

Timber-6539 wrote: post #54

> “The senior leadership team was unanimous in asking for Sam’s return as CEO and for the board’s resignation, actions backed by an open letter signed by over 95% of our employees. The strong support from his team underscores that he is an effective CEO,” said an OpenAI spokeswoman. This is where I stopped reading. At the risk of sounding defensive of Sam Altman. If there's something so fundamentally wrong with him,…

> why does he have such broad support?

He makes people money. Plenty of terrible people commanded great loyalty. All the loyalty tells you is he’s a good leader. Not where he’s leading us.

(Not saying anything about Sam. Just pointing out that loyalty is orthogonal.)

Re: Sam Altman's knack for dodging bullets with a little help from bigshot friends

#62

Post by [deleted] »

nvy wrote: post #44
chongli wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steve Jobs was a human being. No human should be worshipped. Like all human beings, he wasn't a one-dimensional character from a crappy sitcom. He had negative and positive traits. Whatever one feels about him personally, it is absolutely a mistake to dismiss him. What he achieved -- multiple times -- puts him in extremely rarified air in the business world.

[flagged]

[deleted]

Re: Sam Altman's knack for dodging bullets with a little help from bigshot friends

#63

Post by MicolashKyoka »

richbell wrote: post #8
gkoberger wrote: post #7

You don't have to like Sam. But people who do big things, by definition, have to get there by pushing things along at a cadence that differs from most other people. I'm not necessarily saying it's a good thing, but I don't get why every article about Sam seems to be surprised that the guy who helped build something nobody thought was possible (AI this decade) got there by doing things in a fast, unique way. If he fol…

This comment reminds me of when Bird's CEO described their intentional subversion of municipal legislation as "innovating on the regulatory front." A lot can be accomplished by skirting pesky rules and regulations. It isn't something commendable.

Some rules are stupid and reek of cronyism, enshrining established players at the expense of innovation. Those deserve to be challenged.

Re: Sam Altman's knack for dodging bullets with a little help from bigshot friends

#64

Post by JumpCrisscross »

kdwikzncba wrote: post #41
vorticalbox wrote: post #9

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not that I agree with this method but it's a pretty effective way to force something.

No, it's an attempt to force, and has the same flaw as all attempts to force, which is: the other side might just call your bluff. "Oh you think that going ahead before a decision is made and just publish a post will get us to decide in your favor because we're afraid of looking like we're backtracking? How about we don't decide in your favor and delete your post? What you gonna do now?"

> How about we don't decide in your favor and delete your post?

This response, the one YC went with, is milquetoast. It’s rational. But the true fuck you is to counter-programme and publicly call out the lie.

Re: Sam Altman's knack for dodging bullets with a little help from bigshot friends

#66

Post by [deleted] »

bmitc wrote: post #50
hutzlibu wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also this other bit was news to me: "Graham said it was his wife’s doing. “If anyone ‘fired’ Sam, it was Jessica, not me,” he said. “But it would be wrong to use the word ‘fired’ because he agreed immediately.” "

Why are these people so sycophantic, especially to such an inexperienced person?

[deleted]

Re: Sam Altman's knack for dodging bullets with a little help from bigshot friends

#67

Post by hutzlibu »

bmitc wrote: post #50
hutzlibu wrote: post #21

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Also this other bit was news to me: "Graham said it was his wife’s doing. “If anyone ‘fired’ Sam, it was Jessica, not me,” he said. “But it would be wrong to use the word ‘fired’ because he agreed immediately.” "

Why are these people so sycophantic, especially to such an inexperienced person?

"“I saw in a 19-year-old Sam Altman the same thing that I see now: an intensely focused and brilliant person whom I was willing to bet big on,” said Chung, now managing general partner of Xfund, a venture-capital firm."

They believe in his focus to get things done, not in his ethics. And with ChatGPT, he got things done. Which means, he connected the right people and raised money so they can work on the important things.

Re: Sam Altman's knack for dodging bullets with a little help from bigshot friends

#68

Post by Clent »

nvy wrote: post #44
chongli wrote: post #37

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steve Jobs was a human being. No human should be worshipped. Like all human beings, he wasn't a one-dimensional character from a crappy sitcom. He had negative and positive traits. Whatever one feels about him personally, it is absolutely a mistake to dismiss him. What he achieved -- multiple times -- puts him in extremely rarified air in the business world.

[flagged]

Knowing which giants shoulders to stand on is crucial.

Steering those giants towards a unified vision is rarer.

Recognizing someone that does it multiple times is the very definition of merit.

Re: Sam Altman's knack for dodging bullets with a little help from bigshot friends

#69

Post by asfgkadnhiok »

chongli wrote: post #37
nvy wrote: post #28

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Steve Jobs was a massive piece of shit; not a good figure to worship.

Steve Jobs was a human being. No human should be worshipped. Like all human beings, he wasn't a one-dimensional character from a crappy sitcom. He had negative and positive traits. Whatever one feels about him personally, it is absolutely a mistake to dismiss him. What he achieved -- multiple times -- puts him in extremely rarified air in the business world.

[flagged]
Post reply on HN