You couldn’t write a better script for this mess
How much would you like to bet that the Murati character is in a love triangle or something like that when the movie comes out? (The character, probably has no bearing on reality).
OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO
161–170 of 1001 posts
Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO
#162You 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…
I recognize the brilliance of SV (the show) but couldn't make it past a few episodes because it was just too painfully close to home.
Now that I work for a non-tech, non-SV company (agricultural equip manufacturer in fact), and have some distance from the real world SV, maybe I could watch it without my skin crawling.
Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO
#163This is unfathomably depressing for me; I am solidly in the non-profit, open etc. camp, and the way the board has handled the situation seems to be putting a tombstone to any opponents to Altman's way of doing things: profits uber alles, moats galore, non-profit-wink-wink-nudge-nudge; an unmitigated disaster.
Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO
#164This saga is somehow more absurd than HBO's Silicon Valley.
I worked at a startup that was more absurd than anything on "Silicon Valley".
Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO
#165I'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.
Luckily the AI field has been very open source-friendly, which is great for competition and free access, etc. The open source models seem to be less than a year behind the cutting edge, which is waaaay better than e.g. when OpenOffice was trying to copy MS Office.
Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO
#166"Would want significant governance changes" ah, so maybe he baited it
Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO
#167Man, the board already looked reckless and incompetent, but this solidifies the appearance. You can do crazy ill-advised things, but if you unwaveringly commit, we’ll always wonder if you’re secretly a genius. But when you immediately backtrack, we’ll know you were a fool all along.
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.
24 hrs isn't enough time to get signals on whether this was a mistake
Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO
#168Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO
#169When this started I was reminded of old Matt Levine articles about who really controls a company. There were some amusing examples. The board can sack a CEO but if they keep their influence over employees, customers and shareholders... what's the board going to do?
Another good example he had brought up was with Arm China. Would love to see what he has to write about it on Monday's newsletter.
Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO
#170It could be that Microsoft is leveraging them to bring him back. This board may seem mercurial at the moment, but we really, truly, and honestly still do not have the big picture yet.
In the first (I think) episode of halt and catch fire, Joe tells IBM that they have their source code. IBM being IBM sends a legion of lawyers to their smallish company trying to scare the shit out of them.
I feel like it be like that, but instead of a legion, legions.
And OpenAI is scared.