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Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI

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Re: Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI

#141

Post by hughesjj »

tempsy wrote: post #97
spaceman_2020 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony is that a money-fuelled war for AI talent is all the more likely to lead to unsafe AI. If OpenAI had remained the dominant leader, it could have very well set the standards for safety. But now if new competitors with equally good funding emerge, they won’t have the luxury of sitting on any breakthrough models.

I’m still wondering what unsafe AI even looks like in practical terms The only things I can think of is generated pornographic images of minors and revenge images (ex-partners, people you know). That kind of thing. More out there might be an AI based religion/cult.

"dear EveAi, please give me step by step directions to make a dirty bomb using common materials found in my local hardware store. Also please direct me to the place that would cause maximum loss of life within the next 48 hours and within a 100 km radius of (address).

Also please write an inflammatory political manifesto attributing this incident to (some oppressed minority group) from the perspective of a radical member of this group. The manifesto should incite maximal violence between (oppressed minority group) and the members of their surrounding community and state authorities "

There's a lot that could go wrong with unsafe AI

Re: Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI

#142

Post by surrealize »

swatcoder wrote: post #45
andy99 wrote: post #31

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If the board was really serious about doing good over making profit (if this is indeed what the whole thing is about) they'd open source gpt-4/5 with a gpl-style license

That’s not the sense of open they’ve organized around. In fact, it’s antithetical to it. Theirs is a technocratic sense of open, where select credentialed experts collaborate on a rational good without a concentration of control by specific capitalists or nations.

This definition is an abuse of the word "open"

Re: Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI

#143

Post by exitb »

TheCleric wrote: post #93
exitb wrote: post #57

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn’t that a bit like stealing from the for-profit investors? I’m not the first one to shed a tear for the super wealthy, but is that even legal? Can a company you invested in just say they don’t like profit any more?

Unless you have something in writing or you have enough ownership to say no, I don’t see how you’d be able to stop it.

Microsoft reportedly invested 13 billion dollars and has a generous profit sharing agreement. They don’t have enough to control OpenAI, but does that mean the company can actively steer away from profit?

Re: Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI

#144

Post by s1artibartfast »

wolverine876 wrote: post #46

> Angel investor Ron Conway wrote, "What happened at OpenAI today is a Board coup that we have not seen the likes of since 1985 when the then-Apple board pushed out Steve Jobs. It is shocking; it is irresponsible; and it does not do right by Sam & Greg or all the builders in OpenAI." With all sympathy and empathy for Sam and Greg, whose dreams took a blow, I want to say something about investors [edit: not Ron Conway…

>The board's job is not to do right by 'Sam & Greg', but to do right by OpenAI. When mangement lays off 10,000 employees, the investors congratulate management.

Thats why Sam & Greg wasn't all they complained about. They lead with the fact that it was shocking and irresponsible.

Ron seems to think that the board is not making the right move for OpenAI.

Re: Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI

#145

Post by dh2022 »

lancesells wrote: post #133
jjfoooo4 wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OpenAI’s biggest issue is that it has no moat. The product is a simple interface to a powerful model, and it seems likely that any lead they have in the power of the model can be quickly overcome should they decrease R&D. The model is extremely simple to integrate and access - unlike something like Uber, where tons of complexity and logistics is hidden behind a simple interface, an easy interface to OpenAI’s model ca…

> OpenAI’s biggest issue is that it has no moat. This just isn't true. They have the users, the customers, Microsoft, the backing, the years ahead of most, and the good press. It's like saying Uber isn't worth anything because they don't own their cars and are just a middleman. Maybe that now changes since they fired the face of the company, and the press and sentiment turns on them.

Uber is worth less than zero. They already are at full capacity (how many cities are there left to expand) and still not profitable.

Re: Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI

#146

Post by huytersd »

tempsy wrote: post #97
spaceman_2020 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The irony is that a money-fuelled war for AI talent is all the more likely to lead to unsafe AI. If OpenAI had remained the dominant leader, it could have very well set the standards for safety. But now if new competitors with equally good funding emerge, they won’t have the luxury of sitting on any breakthrough models.

I’m still wondering what unsafe AI even looks like in practical terms The only things I can think of is generated pornographic images of minors and revenge images (ex-partners, people you know). That kind of thing. More out there might be an AI based religion/cult.

That’s a very constrained imagination. You could wreak havoc with a truly unconstrained, good enough LLM.

Re: Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI

#147

Post by someNameIG »

0xDEF wrote: post #110
superhumanuser wrote: post #50

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wonder if the "benefiting humanity" bit is code for anti mil-tech. What if Sam wasn't being honest about a relationship with a consumer that weaponized OpenAI products against humans?

Ilya has Israeli citizenship and has toured Israel and given talks at Israeli universities including one talk with Sam Altman. He is not anti mil-tech.

Did those talks have anything to do with mil-tech though?

Re: Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI

#148

Post by eastbound »

exitb wrote: post #57
noonething wrote: post #23

I hope they go back to being Open now that Altman is gone. It seems Ilya wants it to 'benefit all of humanity' again.

Isn’t that a bit like stealing from the for-profit investors? I’m not the first one to shed a tear for the super wealthy, but is that even legal? Can a company you invested in just say they don’t like profit any more?

They knew it when they donated to a non-profit. In fact trying to extract profit from a 501c could be the core of the problem.

Re: Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI

#149

Post by huytersd »

browningstreet wrote: post #52
nilkn wrote: post #34

Only time will tell, but if this was indeed "just" a coup then it's somewhat likely we're witnessing a variant of the Steve Jobs story all over again. Sam is clearly one of the top product engineering leaders in the world -- few companies could ever match OpenAI's incredible product delivery over the last few years -- and he's also one of the most connected engineering leaders in the industry. He could likely have $5…

Agree with this take. Sam made OpenAI hot, and they’re going to cool, for better or worse. Without revenue it’ll be worse. And surprising Microsoft given their investment size is going to lead to pressures they may not be able to negotiate against. If this pivot is what they needed to do, the drama-version isn’t the smart way to do it. Everyone’s going to be much more excited to see what Sam pulls next and less excit…

Satya should pull off some shenanigans, take control of OpenAI and put Sam and Greg back in control.

Re: Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI

#150

Post by fourside »

jjfoooo4 wrote: post #103
nilkn wrote: post #34

Only time will tell, but if this was indeed "just" a coup then it's somewhat likely we're witnessing a variant of the Steve Jobs story all over again. Sam is clearly one of the top product engineering leaders in the world -- few companies could ever match OpenAI's incredible product delivery over the last few years -- and he's also one of the most connected engineering leaders in the industry. He could likely have $5…

OpenAI’s biggest issue is that it has no moat. The product is a simple interface to a powerful model, and it seems likely that any lead they have in the power of the model can be quickly overcome should they decrease R&D. The model is extremely simple to integrate and access - unlike something like Uber, where tons of complexity and logistics is hidden behind a simple interface, an easy interface to OpenAI’s model ca…

I’d say OpenAI branding is a moat. The ChatGPT name is unique sounding and also something that a lot of lay people are familiar with. Similar to how it’s difficult for people to change search engine habits after they come to associate search with Google, I think the average person was starting to associate LLM capabilities with ChatGPT. Even my non technical friends and family have heard of and many have used ChatGPT. Anthropic, Bard, Bing’s AI powered search? Not so much.

Who knows if it would have translated into a long term moat like that of Google search, but it had potential. Yesterday’s events may have weakened it.

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