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Reflections on OpenAI

calv.info

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Re: Reflections on OpenAI

#121

Post by rrrrrrrrrrrryan »

hinterlands wrote: post #52

It is fairly rare to see an ex-employee put a positive spin on their work experience. I don't think this makes OpenAI special. It's just a good reminder that the overwhelming majority of "why I left" posts are basically trying to justify why a person wasn't a good fit for an organization by blaming it squarely on the organization. Look at it this way: the flip side of "incredibly bottoms-up" from this article is that…

> There's no Bond villain at the helm. It's good people rationalizing things.

I worked for a few years at a company that made software for casinos, and this was absolutely not the case there. Casinos absolutely have fully shameless villains at the helm.

Re: Reflections on OpenAI

#122

Post by ambicapter »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #59
bhl wrote: post #3

> The Codex sprint was probably the hardest I've worked in nearly a decade. Most nights were up until 11 or midnight. Waking up to a newborn at 5:30 every morning. Heading to the office again at 7a. Working most weekends. There's so much compression / time-dilation in the industry: large projects are pushed out and released in weeks; careers are made in months. Worried about how sustainable this is for its people, gi…

How did they have any time left to be a parent?

> I returned early from my paternity leave to help participate in the Codex launch.

Obvious priorities there.

Re: Reflections on OpenAI

#123

Post by troupo »

> As often as OpenAI is maligned in the press, everyone I met there is actually trying to do the right thing.

To quote Jonathan Nightingale from his famous thread on how Google sabotaged Mozilla [1]:

--- start quote ---

The question is not whether individual sidewalk labs people have pure motives. I know some of them, just like I know plenty on the Chrome team. They’re great people. But focus on the behaviour of the organism as a whole. At the macro level, google/alphabet is very intentional.

--- end quote ---

Replace that with OpenAI

[1] https://archive.is/2019.04.15-165942/https://twitter.com/joh...

Re: Reflections on OpenAI

#124

Post by chrisfosterelli »

alwa wrote: post #67
chrisfosterelli wrote: post #43

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"You don't really love what you do unless you're willing to do it 17 hours a day every day" is an interesting take. You can love what you do but if you do more of it than is sustainable because of external pressures then you will burn out. Enjoying your work is not a vaccine against burnout. I'd actually argue that people who love what they do are more likely to have trouble finding that balance. The person who hates…

I read gp’s formulation differently: “if you’re working 17 hours a day, you’d better stop soon unless you’re doing it for the love of doing it.” In that sense it seems like you and gp might agree that it’s bad for you and for your coworkers if you’re working like that because of external pressures. I don’t delight in anybody’s suffering or burnout. But I do feel relief when somebody is suffering from the pace or inte…

I would indeed agree with things as you've stated. I interpreted "the work they do" to mean "their craft" but if it was intended as "their specific working conditions" I can see how it'd read differently.

I think there are a lot of people that love their craft but are in specific working conditions that lead to burnout, and all I was saying is that I don't think it means they love their craft any less.

Re: Reflections on OpenAI

#125

Post by [deleted] »

Rebelgecko wrote: post #59
bhl wrote: post #3

> The Codex sprint was probably the hardest I've worked in nearly a decade. Most nights were up until 11 or midnight. Waking up to a newborn at 5:30 every morning. Heading to the office again at 7a. Working most weekends. There's so much compression / time-dilation in the industry: large projects are pushed out and released in weeks; careers are made in months. Worried about how sustainable this is for its people, gi…

How did they have any time left to be a parent?

[deleted]

Re: Reflections on OpenAI

#126

Post by harmonic18374 »

ambicapter wrote: post #122
Rebelgecko wrote: post #59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How did they have any time left to be a parent?

> I returned early from my paternity leave to help participate in the Codex launch. Obvious priorities there.

That part made me do a double take. I hope his child never learns they were being put second.

Re: Reflections on OpenAI

#127

Post by paulcole »

jonas21 wrote: post #107
rogerkirkness wrote: post #105

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Calvin is the founder/CTO of Segment, not old but also not some doe eyed new grad.

On one hand, yes. But on the other hand, he's still in his 30s. In most fields, this would be considered young / early career. It kind of reinforces the point that bright, young people can get a lot done in the tech world.

> In most fields, this would be considered young / early career

Is it considered young / early career in this field?

Re: Reflections on OpenAI

#128

Post by [deleted] »

throwawayohio wrote: post #82

> As often as OpenAI is maligned in the press, everyone I met there is actually trying to do the right thing. I appreciate where the author is coming from, but I would have just left this part out. If there is anything I've learned during my time in tech (ESPECIALLY in the Bay Area) it's that the people you didn't meet are absolutely angling to do the wrong thing(TM).

[deleted]

Re: Reflections on OpenAI

#129

Post by torginus »

hinterlands wrote: post #52

It is fairly rare to see an ex-employee put a positive spin on their work experience. I don't think this makes OpenAI special. It's just a good reminder that the overwhelming majority of "why I left" posts are basically trying to justify why a person wasn't a good fit for an organization by blaming it squarely on the organization. Look at it this way: the flip side of "incredibly bottoms-up" from this article is that…

Here's what I think - while Altman was busy trying to convince the public the AGI was coming in the next two weeks, with vague tales that were equaly ominous and utopistic, he (and his fellow leaders) have been extremely busy at trying hard to turn OpenAI into a product company with some killer offerings, and from the article, it seems they were rather good and successful in that.

Considering the high stakes, money, and undoubtedly the ego involved, the writer might have acquired a few bruises along the way, or might have lost out on some political in fights (remember how they mentioned they built multiple Codex prototypes, it must've sucked to see some other people's version chosen instead of your own).

Another possible explanation is that the writer's just had enough - enough money to last a lifetime, just started a family, made his mark on the world, and was no longer compelled (or have been able to) keep up with methed-up fresh college grads.

Re: Reflections on OpenAI

#130

Post by archagon »

throwawayohio wrote: post #82

> As often as OpenAI is maligned in the press, everyone I met there is actually trying to do the right thing. I appreciate where the author is coming from, but I would have just left this part out. If there is anything I've learned during my time in tech (ESPECIALLY in the Bay Area) it's that the people you didn't meet are absolutely angling to do the wrong thing(TM).

Yes. We already know that Altman parties with extremists like Yarvin and Thiel and donates millions to far-right political causes. I’m afraid the org is rotten at its core. If only the coup had succeeded.
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