OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

Post by caturopath » Sat, Nov 18, 2023, 11:21 PM UTC

paulddraper wrote: post #104

AndrewKemendo wrote: post #54

You know, I always found Mike judge to probably be the most prescient of all of the science fiction authors. In Office Space, Idiocracy, and most relevant here in Silicon Valley; he accurately, and very precisely not only forecasts, but deconstructs the reasoning, and vapid lack of core philosophy behind each of the real life narratives he’s parodying. That serious people still consider Silicon Valley as some kind of…

SV... Like high tech companies? Venture capital? The TV show? What do you mean by that?

Post by kelsey9876543 » Sat, Nov 18, 2023, 11:21 PM UTC

caddemon wrote: post #111

jstummbillig wrote: post #47

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That seems a lot be better than doubling down on a bad mistake to save face, but we do care quite a bit about about looking strong, don't we.

At longer timescales it is important to be able to recognize mistakes and reverse course, but this happened so fast I'm not sure that's the right characterization. There's no way they could already decide that firing Sam was a mistake based on the outcomes they claim to prioritize. Reversing course this quickly actually seems to me more like a reaction based directly on people's negative opinions, though it may be a…

Post by valianteffort » Sat, Nov 18, 2023, 11:21 PM UTC

minimaxir wrote: post #81

mycologos wrote: post #69

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I think they could have won in the court of public opinion ... [but] they tried to skewer him, and it backfired completely Maybe we have different definitions of "the court of public opinion". Most people don't know who Sam Altman is, and most of the people who do know don't have strong opinions on his performance as OpenAI's CEO. Even on HN, the reaction to the board "skwer[ing] him" has been pretty mixed, and mos…

You underestimate how many people are aware of OpenAI after ChatGPT's viral success. The news yesterday broke the tech/AI bubble, and there would have been much more press on it if it wasn't done as a Friday news dump.

Post by gkoberger » Sat, Nov 18, 2023, 11:21 PM UTC

px43 wrote: post #98

gkoberger wrote: post #24

I'd bet money Satya was a driver of this reversal. I genuinely can't believe the board didn't see this coming. I think they could have won in the court of public opinion if their press release said they loved Sam but felt like his skills and ambitions diverged from their mission. But instead, they tried to skewer him, and it backfired completely. I hope Sam comes back. He'll make a lot more money if he doesn't, but I…

Satya drove the removal of Sam, or drove the board to get him back? From Greg's tweet, it seems like the chaos was largely driven Ilya, who has also been very outspoken against open source and sharing research, which makes me think his motivations are more aligned with those of Microsoft/Satya. I still can't tell if Sam got ousted because he was getting in the way of a Microsoft takeover, or if Sam was trying to set…

Post by skwirl » Sat, Nov 18, 2023, 11:22 PM UTC

Jensson wrote: post #52

gkoberger wrote: post #24

I'd bet money Satya was a driver of this reversal. I genuinely can't believe the board didn't see this coming. I think they could have won in the court of public opinion if their press release said they loved Sam but felt like his skills and ambitions diverged from their mission. But instead, they tried to skewer him, and it backfired completely. I hope Sam comes back. He'll make a lot more money if he doesn't, but I…

> I hope Sam comes back Why? We would have more diversity in this space if he leaves, which would get us another AI startup with huge funding and know how from OpenAI, while OpenAI would become less Sam Altman like. I think him staying is bad for the field overall compared to OpenAI splitting in two.