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OpenAI investors keep pushing for Sam Altman’s return

wsj.com

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Re: OpenAI investors keep pushing for Sam Altman’s return

#191

Post by 15457345234 »

ben_w wrote: post #155
15457345234 wrote: post #51

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I wouldn't be so sure of that. Given that a bunch of the staff are acting like they're Heavens Gate members you also expect them to sabotage it? Or literally have a flavor-aid session in the office? > Their investors, employees and donors might disagree with that. Nobody wants to invest in a personality cult that's sworn an oath of fealty to one guy, dude. That's basically flushing money down the toilet, as this fi…

> Nobody wants to invest in a personality cult that's sworn an oath of fealty to one guy, dude. That's basically flushing money down the toilet, as this fiasco demonstrates. Are you aware that Microsoft and Salesforce CEOs have both offered to hire any OpenAI employees who want to switch boat, while Nvidia CEO and Meta's FAIR team have both made similar but slightly lesser "call me" offers to all of them? https://coi…

Also cointelegraph (lol) is not a reliable source of ... anything. Apart from hype, maybe.

Re: OpenAI investors keep pushing for Sam Altman’s return

#192

Post by ChatGTP »

DebtDeflation wrote: post #166

It's not reported as much as it should be, but at one point in 2021 the OpenAI board had 10 people on it. In the beginning of 2023 it had 9 people. 3 stepped down over the course of 2023 and were not replaced, leaving only 6 in place by the time of last week's fiasco. 2 of the 6 were then removed on Friday leaving 4. The typical large company will have 10-12 people on the board. Apparently, OpenAI's bylaws do not set…

This is the type of thing Microsoft should known about before investing, billions in the company.

They are crying foul now and it might work out ok. But they were asking for it.

Re: OpenAI investors keep pushing for Sam Altman’s return

#193

Post by jacquesm »

righthand wrote: post #142
flappyeagle wrote: post #127

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you think they hired those people because they're useless? > The board is calling their bluff right now The board is not doing much of anything. They picked a CEO then she went to team sam. Then they picked another CEO and now he's threatening them with resignation. Not to mention the 3 other people they tried to bring into the role who refused.

No I think they hired them because they can do the job the agreed to pay them. I don’t think these people are irreplaceable, that would be silly. That’s what Sam Altman wants you to think.

> I don’t think these people are irreplaceable, that would be silly.

Maybe go and spend some time to bone up on who exactly works for OpenAI, what their track record is (education, publications and so on) and then tell me where you are going to find another 700 people that talented who will want to work for a company this damaged.

Re: OpenAI investors keep pushing for Sam Altman’s return

#194

Post by righthand »

gruturo wrote: post #180
righthand wrote: post #102

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it’s fundamentally about the people, can you name some of these 90% that OpenAI couldn’t live without? Other than Ilya? From where I’m sitting the 90% are replaceable in a flooded market of available software engineers. If Satya and Sam make them happy then go work for Microsoft. The board is calling their bluff right now.

I can't name them, no, but they're the people who built the thing that is being valued 90B. If they migrate (leadership included), so does the potential for future value. My feeling is that the 90B are moving. Sure, IP, existing contracts, licensing, you name it, will have residual value - but if I consider its board a clown car I will refrain from building on top of its API because they might not be around by luncht…

Do you know the board is a clown car or is that what the media surrounding “the chaos” has told you. The board has been quiet is all. Does that automatically mean they’re in the back flushing documents down the toilet and juggling balls? Or is there a better reason they feel no reason to publicly respond to a bunch of media flurry?

Re: OpenAI investors keep pushing for Sam Altman’s return

#195

Post by 15457345234 »

maxdoop wrote: post #149
righthand wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That will last until Sam gives up and drops them all when he moves on to whatever he’s doing next. They may be dogmatic about it but it’s only because they think they have cards to play.

Dude, you’re all over this thread and have such a strange bias against Sam and the current employees. Can I ask, out of genuine curiosity, why you find the board to be OK in this situation and why you find Sam / the employees behind him so off-putting?

> why you find Sam / the employees behind him so off-putting?

To me it's the 100% committed 'vibe' they're giving off. It's weird. It's not how staff, especially technical/researchers (who usually bicker like anything over the most trivial of differences) behave.

Anyone who's managed a big research team knows that competing rivalries and internecine warfare is the order of the day. Literal slapfights have broken out over whether big or little endian encoding will be more efficient for any given scenario, for example.

Re: OpenAI investors keep pushing for Sam Altman’s return

#196

Post by phpnode »

jacquesm wrote: post #189
phpnode wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm quite surprised by this, if only because of the regularity with which they appear in standard software consulting agreements.

That depends very much on the locality. What's legal in one country will get you in serious trouble in many others. hi there!

The clauses are common in the UK but I see them all the time from startups incorporated in Delaware. Maybe they're there for the deterrent factor. Also, hi!

Re: OpenAI investors keep pushing for Sam Altman’s return

#197

Post by WrongAssumption »

15457345234 wrote: post #23
jacquesm wrote: post #13

Does anybody know who is currently CEO of OpenAI? Friday, Sam. Saturday, Mira. Sunday was a day off, Monday it was Emmet so who is it for today? Kidding aside, the board is under more and more pressure but - surprisingly - they haven't folded yet. I am interpreting that as that they are trying to get something out of it that nobody is willing to give them. The new CEO is also surprisingly not to be found at all, no p…

> Does anybody know who is currently CEO of OpenAI? Emmett Shear. Altman won't be back. Investors like success and returns but they don't like companies where all the employees have basically sworn out an oath of fealty to the CEO, as it means they (the investors) have basically no control over anything.

Emmett is already threatening to resign.

https://www.proactiveinvestors.com/companies/news/1033862/op...

Re: OpenAI investors keep pushing for Sam Altman’s return

#198

Post by DonHopkins »

jacquesm wrote: post #179
DonHopkins wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Credit where credit is due for righting the ship! https://donhopkins.com/home/CostaConcordiaFTFY.jpg

Hehe. That's funny.

Damn, I was hoping you'd be horrified as a Dutchman.

Re: OpenAI investors keep pushing for Sam Altman’s return

#199

Post by cellar_door »

righthand wrote: post #156
cellar_door wrote: post #131

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Investors have no reason to worry about their investment in the tech What? They have a MASSIVE reason to worry: 3/4 board members are clearly not aligned with the profit motive. And D'angelo has a massive conflict of interest with monetizing their models.

How are they not aligned? They didn’t oust Sam because of profit they ousted him for dishonesty.

are you serious? they're board members of the non-profit... they don't have any shares in the for-profit subsidiary and thus no financial incentive for commercializing the IP

meanwhile, all the employees are paid via a profit sharing scheme. 98% of them are backing Altman because they don't want to see their compensation nuked.

Re: OpenAI investors keep pushing for Sam Altman’s return

#200

Post by righthand »

jacquesm wrote: post #193
righthand wrote: post #142

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No I think they hired them because they can do the job the agreed to pay them. I don’t think these people are irreplaceable, that would be silly. That’s what Sam Altman wants you to think.

> I don’t think these people are irreplaceable, that would be silly. Maybe go and spend some time to bone up on who exactly works for OpenAI, what their track record is (education, publications and so on) and then tell me where you are going to find another 700 people that talented who will want to work for a company this damaged.

That’s only if 700 people are all doing the same job. The entire company is key engineering talent? That seems unlikely.
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