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Why I Joined OpenAI

brendangregg.com

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Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#51

Post by 80696527890 »

kgraves wrote: post #36
brendangregg wrote: post #15

To answer a few people at once: I did mention compensation as a factor in the post, but I didn't elaborate details, so easy to miss. Comp is important of course, but so are the other factors. It feels like I can't go for a day without reading about the cost of AI datacenters in the news, and I can do something about it.

> I stood on the street after my haircut and let sink in how big this was, how this technology has become an essential aide for so many, how I could lead performance efforts and help save the planet. Brendan. First of all congratulations on your new job. However, It is easier to just say to everyone it is about the money, compensation and the stock options. You're not joining a charity, or to save the planet, this co…

[flagged]

Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#52

Post by skybrian »

petterroea wrote: post #49
Banditoz wrote: post #4

> ...it's not just about saving costs – it's about saving the planet There's something that doesn't sit right with me about this statement, and I'm not sure what it is. Are you sure you didn't just join for the money? (edit: cool problems, too)

Even a 25% reduction in resource usage will probably not be enough, AI datacenters are still a huge resource sink after all

I imagine there's a lot more to be gained than that via algorithmic improvements. But at least in the short term, the more you cut costs (and prices), the more usage will increase.

Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#53

Post by ahf8Aithaex7Nai »

Apparently, there's this guy who's really good at optimizing computer performance and makes a lot of money doing it. At the same time, he writes mediocre school essays that are actually a bit embarrassing. Guys, if you have the opportunity to land a very well-paid job, then do it. Take the money. Live your life. But please spare us the public self-castration.

Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#54

Post by rvz »

80696527890 wrote: post #51
kgraves wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I stood on the street after my haircut and let sink in how big this was, how this technology has become an essential aide for so many, how I could lead performance efforts and help save the planet. Brendan. First of all congratulations on your new job. However, It is easier to just say to everyone it is about the money, compensation and the stock options. You're not joining a charity, or to save the planet, this co…

[flagged]

For the Benefit of Humanity®

Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#55

Post by surajrmal »

buzzerbetrayed wrote: post #50
gghffguhvc wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I believe him. I don’t know him personally but his blog posts pop up here from time to time and this feels genuine to me.

You believe someone taking a fat paycheck isn’t doing it for the fat paycheck? Wanna buy a bridge?

Humans are complex and have multiple sources of motivation. You don't know whether he took the offer with the highest pay. He's likely wealthy enough that he can pay less attention to his income and focus on his other sources of motivation if he wants to. That's not to say pay is not a factor in his choice, but it need not be the only or primary one. This is a luxury of the privileged for sure, which can make it difficult to relate to.

Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#56

Post by [deleted] »

Thaxll wrote: post #19
Banditoz wrote: post #4

> ...it's not just about saving costs – it's about saving the planet There's something that doesn't sit right with me about this statement, and I'm not sure what it is. Are you sure you didn't just join for the money? (edit: cool problems, too)

The AI train is going with or without you, if you can be part of it and improve the situaton, why not.

[deleted]

Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#58

Post by brendangregg »

brendangregg wrote: post #15

To answer a few people at once: I did mention compensation as a factor in the post, but I didn't elaborate details, so easy to miss. Comp is important of course, but so are the other factors. It feels like I can't go for a day without reading about the cost of AI datacenters in the news, and I can do something about it.

Again, many comments here saying I only care about the money, and while comp is an important factor I think it characterizes me as someone I'm not, and forgets what I've been doing for the past two decades. I've spent thousands of hours of my life writing textbooks for roughly minimum wage, as I want to help others like me (I came from nothing, with no access tech meetups or conferences, and books were the gateway to a better job). I've published technologies as open source that have allowed others to make millions and are the basis for many startups. I'm also helping pioneer remote work and hoping to set a good example for others to follow (as I've published about before). So I think I'm well known for caring about a lot of things during the past couple of decades.

Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#59

Post by georgemcbay »

amluto wrote: post #12

> She was worried about a friend who was travelling in a far-away city, with little timezone overlap when they could chat, but she could talk to ChatGPT anytime about what the city was like and what tourist activities her friend might be doing, which helped her feel connected. She liked the memory feature too, saying it was like talking to a person who was living there. This seems rather sad. Is this really what AI i…

> And we do not need gigawatts and gigawatts for this use case anyway. A small local model or batched inference of a small model should do just fine.

I guess I'm a dinosaur but I think emailing the friend to ask what they are actually up to would be even better than involving an LLM to imagine it.

Asynchronous human to human communication is a pretty solved problem.

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