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Why I Joined OpenAI

brendangregg.com

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Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#161

Post by wscott »

selfawareMammal wrote: post #117

> it's not just about saving costs – it's about saving the planet. I have joined OpenAI to work on this challenge directly. I couldn't go on reading.

That is normal on his blog. He is a brand that he has developed over many years, and he is constantly promoting that brand.

Yes, he has done a lot of good work in the past, but he has put as much effort into self-promotion and landed a series of interesting and well-paying gigs.

I can't blame him for that. It just makes me tired to watch.

Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#162

Post by jsnell »

wscott wrote: post #161
selfawareMammal wrote: post #117

> it's not just about saving costs – it's about saving the planet. I have joined OpenAI to work on this challenge directly. I couldn't go on reading.

That is normal on his blog. He is a brand that he has developed over many years, and he is constantly promoting that brand. Yes, he has done a lot of good work in the past, but he has put as much effort into self-promotion and landed a series of interesting and well-paying gigs. I can't blame him for that. It just makes me tired to watch.

What the OP was pointing out is two typical tells for lazy ChatGPT-generated text, right in the intro. (The m-dash, "it's not just X, it's Y").

Of course that kind of heuristic can have false positives, and not every accusation of AI-written content on HN is correct. But given how much stuff Gregg has written over the years, it's easy to spot-check a few previous posts. This clearly isn't his normal style of writing.

Once we know this blog was generated by a chatbot, why would the reader care about any of it? Was there a Mia, or did the prompt ask for a humanizing anecdote? Basically, show us the prompt rather than the slop.

Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#163

Post by trvz »

pyrale wrote: post #89
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)

Probably because "making the world a better place" has been a trope used so much in the industry that it's made it to a TV show [1]. It's fine to be passionate about your job. It's fine to be paid well. You don't need to make us believe that you're mother Theresa on top of it. [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B8C5sjjhsso

You should stop using mother theresa this way.

Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#164

Post by motbus3 »

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.

Read this Gregg. I'm the first one to always put your work and books in any comments related to you or your work here. But...

This is a company which at the first opportunity seized and stopped doing open research, cut open source contributions, converted itself to for profit after years of fiscal benefits, that scrapped its ethics committee and removed all engineers who opposed any of this.

Don't come with the excuse there is any work being done for the better of something.

One should never input one's own expectations into another, but, I feel disappointed. It is having the guy I saw growing from the first posts working for an evil machine on his own volition.

Do what you want. But that's what I feel about this disheartening news

Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#165

Post by motbus3 »

matwood wrote: post #101
altmanaltman wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's okay to want to make money. You don't really have to justify it this hard unless you want people to really think you don't think comp is important, which is a bit sus to be fair.

Even if people don't want it to be about the money, it's still about the money because of the world we live in. Good vibes don't pay the mortgage or put food on the table. More money equates to better health and future outcomes for a person and their family, so how couldn't it always be about the money? Of course once someone has money they can say it's not about the money, but that privilege is literally bought with…

It is ok to make money, as long as it does not involve working with evil stuff.

Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#166

Post by trvz »

seanhunter wrote: post #76
biggggtalkguy wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

[flagged]

Firstly, you would do well to read the guidelines about avoiding snark, and then actually say whatever it is you’re trying to say rather than make insinuations. As is, this response comes across as a very shallow read. It’s hard to get to the root of what you’re actually saying in your post other than it quotes two paragraphs about how it’s not fun to push through the bureaucracy of a large organisation, which - I wo…

[flagged]

Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#167

Post by [deleted] »

mettamage wrote: post #133
brendangregg wrote: post #97

Earlier quoted context omitted.

When did I say I don't think comp is important?

From my reading of what you said, you think comp is important and so are other things. You outlined those a bit too, but I already forgot them. Quite frankly, I think some people here are too quickly spooked and think what you say is sus. I simply see that as a sign that they aren't fully having a good faith discussion. Or they simply read things way differently than I do. I'm simply writing this because I think ther…

[deleted]

Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#168

Post by [deleted] »

pillefitz wrote: post #85
brendangregg wrote: post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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…

The issue is that you're doing lot, but not saving the planet. What do you think is happening with the efficiency gains? You're making rich people richer and helping AI to become an integral (i.e. positive ROI from business perspective) part of our lives. And that's perfectly fine if it aligns with your philosophy. It's not for quite a few others, and you not owning up to it leads to all kinds of negativity in the co…

[deleted]

Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#169

Post by FattiMei »

I found funny the hairstylist did provide a pretty distopic reason to use ChatGPT... it seems that you are trying to please your new employer... Nevertheless I respect performance work and I'm studying for something similar. I hope to land a job in HPC

Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#170

Post by robotpepi »

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.

[flagged]
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