OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive • Hacker News Board

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#601

Post by NicuCalcea » Wed, May 21, 2025, 8:55 PM UTC

tiffanyh wrote: post #457

xgolwks wrote: post #386

What the other commenters are forgetting is that this is the same Sam Altman who planned and executed the extraction of Reddit from Condé Nast. This acquisition (and the Windsurf acquisition) are all-stock deals, which have the added benefit of reducing the control the nonprofit entity has over the for profit OpenAI entity. How do you extract the for profit entity out of the hands of a nonprofit? - Step 1: you have c…

> Sam Altman who planned and executed the extraction of Reddit from Condé Nast Relevant thread where Sam acknowledges the plan. https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/3cs78i/whats_the...

> Other than that, child's play for me.

Such an insufferable response.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#602

Post by dgfitz » Wed, May 21, 2025, 8:56 PM UTC

52-6F-62 wrote: post #581

tiffanyh wrote: post #457

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Sam Altman who planned and executed the extraction of Reddit from Condé Nast Relevant thread where Sam acknowledges the plan. https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/3cs78i/whats_the...

What the fuck

Just remember, AI is real, next token predictors are a thing of the past. SA doesn’t care about control, this is for the good of all mankind.

_vomit face_

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#603

Post by always_imposter » Wed, May 21, 2025, 8:56 PM UTC

brentm wrote: post #358

alexey-salmin wrote: post #354

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This still means 1.5B were paid in cash for a company from what I understood has neither clients nor even a product. Not exactly pocket money.

Appears from the outside as a very expensive aquihire but if you're getting the guy who essentially created the iPhone it could be worth it.

[dead]

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#604

Post by iamiamai » Wed, May 21, 2025, 8:56 PM UTC

Sam is playing 4D chess here. He needs top-tier talent and design to build the next generation of AI hardware, and this move pulls in both capital and talent. Going after Apple—the king of consumer hardware—makes perfect sense: either OpenAI builds the iPhone killer or forces Apple to make a move. They’ve won the web interface so far, but don’t own an OS or device layer, so this helps solve that long-term strategic gap. And since it’s an all-equity deal, there’s basically no downside—John stays aligned, and OpenAI now has elite software and hardware talent under one roof. Huge value unlock

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#605

Post by jihadjihad » Wed, May 21, 2025, 8:58 PM UTC

earthnail wrote: post #251

chairhairair wrote: post #124

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Altman: "Jony was running a design firm called LoveFrom that had established itself as really the densest collection of talent that I've ever heard of in one place AND HAS PROBABLY EVER EXISTED IN THE WORLD." I felt physically sick from second-hand embarrassment watching this.

German has a word for second hand embarrassment. Fremdschämen. Comes in very handy here. If Sam continues like this it won’t be long until it becomes part of the regular English language like other German words such as Kindergarten. And I’ll be happy that I don’t have to explain Fremdschämen anymore. Everything has its upsides.

> until it becomes part of the regular English language like other German words such as Kindergarten.

or Schadenfreude.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#606

Post by tgma » Wed, May 21, 2025, 9:00 PM UTC

DrBurrito wrote: post #597

tgma wrote: post #531

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is news to me. Do you have any reference for this? FWIW they did a restructuring that got rid of the capped-profit regime very recently.

Ah right, the restructuring seems to change some things: From here: https://openai.com/index/evolving-our-structure/ The nonprofit will continue to control the PBC, and will become a big shareholder in the PBC, in an amount supported by independent financial advisors, giving the nonprofit resources to support programs so AI can benefit many different communities, consistent with the mission. And as the PBC grows, the…

I don't interpret that paragraph as non-dilutive. It's to say that the parent is just a regular shareholder currently holding the majority and then weasels away with "more resources as valuation growth" which is true in absolute mark-to-market sense, not relative ownership, but I don't think they have free cash to pony up and exercise any first right of refusal even if they have something like that on a pro-forma basis, so unless the non-profit board is adamant on voting against all capital raises and stock-based acquisitions and employee stock (they won't), their ownership share will be diluted.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#607

Post by tim333 » Wed, May 21, 2025, 9:00 PM UTC

HenryBemis wrote: post #571

Gothmog69 wrote: post #544

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did they trick them by giving them free money?

They are paying 'one worldcoin' (I've read sold about $50) to places that give zero value to their privacy (too difficult to care for privacy when starving to death and the monthly salary is $10). They are targeting poor countries (South America, Africa). Once they have collected 'enough' faces to use on their AI, they could possibly pull the plug or keep it as a social experiment. I was thinking, there is no way Rus…

I signed up in London. It's coming to the US shortly. You give up very little privacy - you don't even have to give your name.

Most people calling it a scam don't know much about it.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#608

Post by hinkley » Wed, May 21, 2025, 9:01 PM UTC

mk_stjames wrote: post #490

From the same people that brought you "Vibe Coding", comes "Vibe Acquisitions".

Vibes goeth before a fall.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#609

Post by elAhmo » Wed, May 21, 2025, 9:03 PM UTC

Buying a company without a product (or anything announced), without a website, with its founder not even joining after an acquisition. So, not really an aquihire either.

I am sure this aligns with the non-profit part of OpenAI whose board allegedly has influence of where the company is heading.

This industry is amazing.

Re: OpenAI to buy AI startup from Jony Ive

#610

Post by hn_acc1 » Wed, May 21, 2025, 9:03 PM UTC

echelon wrote: post #565

brap wrote: post #529

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sam also ran a crypto scam called WorldCoin. Their secret sauce was tricking poor people in Africa.

Growing up in a strong Southern Christian / Baptist / Pentecostal household [1], WorldCoin feels like the most "Mark of the Beast" plot I've ever seen. 1990's televangelists like John Hagee and Pat Robertson would be screaming to high heaven about Sam Altman being the antichrist if they were still around. Transacting with your eyeball? Directly out of the Book of Revelations! [1] I took a strong interest in biochemis…

I mean, on the one hand, sure, but on the other hand - the "anointed one" himself, DJT, is pushing AI, so I'm sure it will be fine. Unlike that heathen Joe Biden who attends more church services in a month than DJT in a year. And as I eventually learned (grew up similar to yourself, but german pentecostal in canada, also exvangelical now), if they are against helping people and against welfare/basic human rights/basic income/equality, they're truly christians in the eyes of those telegelicals. I guess somehow the "you will always have the poor among you, me you will not always have" quote from Jesus means that to be "a biblical nation", we have to ensure there are always poor people..