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Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down

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Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down

#181

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Pretty much every researcher I know at OpenAI who are on twitter re-tweeted Sam Atlman's heart tweet with their own heart or some other supportive message. I'm sure that's a sign that they are all team Sam - this includes a ton of researchers you see on most papers that came out of OpenAI. That's a good chunk of their research team and that'd be a very big loss. Also there are tons of engineers (and I know a few of t…

It's always been my observation that the actual heavyweights of any hardcore engineering project are the ones that avoid snarky lightweight platforms like twitter like the plague. I would imagine that if you based hiring and firing decisions on the metric of 'how often this employee tweets' you could quite effectively cut deadwood. With that in mind...

Discredit people using twitter is a weird take, and didn't resemble critical thinking to me.

Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down

#182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

OpenAI has hundreds more employees, all of whom are incredibly smart. While they will definitely lose the leadership and talent of those two, it’s not as if a nuclear bomb dropped on their HQ and wiped out all their engineers! So questioning whether they will survive seems very silly and incredibly premature to me

Survive as existing? They will. But this is a disaster that can't be sugarcoated. Working in an AI company with a doomer as head is ridiculous. It will be like working in a tobacco company advocating for lung cancer awareness. I don't think the new CEO can do anything to get back trust in record short amount of time. The sam loyalists will leave. The question remain, how is the new CEO going to hire new people, and w…

Ah yes you're either a doomer or e/acc. Pick an extreme. Everything must be polarized.

Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down

#183
post #48

I wonder if the recent departure of Kyle Vogt from Cruise is related. Emmett Shear and Kyle Vogt founded Twitch together.

Wait why would you think this is would be related to Kyle? Kyle's story was brewing from the moment GM appointed their attorney to manage Cruise - everyone knew there was gonna be restructuring of the executive team after the incident. If anything, it was a convenient time for Kyle to step down as it wouldn't get a lot of prime time thanks to OpenAI drama.

If Emmett has any say at all in the matter, Kyle's almost definitely under consideration.

Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down

#184
OpenAI never found a true identity under Sam. Sam treated pursued hyper growth (treating it like a YC startup) and many in the company, including Ilya, wanted it to be a research company emphasizing AI safety.

Whether you're Team Sutzkaver or team Altman, you can't deny it's been interesting to see extremely talented people fundamentally disagree what to do with godlike technology.

Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down

#185

I'm expecting lawsuits in the next day or two from Altman for libel and defamation. I'd be surprised if OpenAI investors don't go to the courts also ASAP.

The board said he was fired for being insufficiently candid with them. Good luck getting a US court to call that defamation.

Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down

#186
Replaced by CEO of Twitch, one of the most censorship-happy places on the internet where one can build their career and cancel themselves with one word they can't edit out even if they didn't say it themselves.

Damn. I hope Sam guts the place and ClosedAI ends up as a "Lostech" fossil and M$ ends up holding the most expensive sack of poo ever conceived.

Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down

#188
post #111
post #47

So long Mira Murati. That's the second CEO OpenAI has ousted in one week. https://openai.com/blog/openai-announces-leadership-transiti...

Her move makes even less sense than what the board did. The board told her the day before that they're firing Sam, so she obviously accepted it. But, one day later she caves and sides with Sam (that's what the heart tweet means)? That's weak leadership and resolve.

Who sends heart emojis to their boss? Is this level of sycophancy normal nowadays?

Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down

#189
post #97

Not a word from Ilya. I can’t wrap my mind around his motivation. Did he really fire Sam over “AI safety” concerns? How is that remotely rational.

No he didn't fire Sam over AI safety concerns. That's completely made up by people in the twittersphere. The only thing we know is that the board said the reason was that he lied to the board. The guardian[1] reported that he was working on a new startup[1] and that staff had been told it was due to a breakdown in communication and not to do with anything regarding safety, security, malfeasance or a bunch of other things.

[1] https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2023/nov/18/earthquak...

Re: Emmett Shear becomes interim OpenAI CEO as Altman talks break down

#190
post #108

I still cannot process what’s happened to one of the most prominent and hyped companies of the past year in just one weekend. If it’s true that Altman won’t return to OpenAI (or alternatively: that the current board won’t step down) then where does that leave OpenAI? Microsoft can’t be happy, as evidenced by reporting that Nadella was acting as mediator to bring him back. Does OpenAI survive this? Will be super inter…

What I think is funny is how the whole "we're just doing this to make sure AI is safe" meme breaks down, if you have OpenAI, Anthropic, and Altman AI all competing, which seems likely now. Do you really need all 3? Is each one going to claim that they're the only ones who can develop AGI safely? Since Sam left, now OpenAI is unsafe? But I thought they were the safe ones, and he was being reckless. Or is Sam just goin…

Can someone explain to me what they mean by "safe" AGI? I've looked in many places and everyone is extremely vague. Certainly no one is suggesting these systems can become "alive", so what exactly are we trying to remain safe from? Job loss?
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