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Why I Joined OpenAI

brendangregg.com

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Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#201

Post by giancarlostoro »

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)

The HBO “Silicon Valley” series’ version of “making the world a better place by” nonsense. The blog article has fallen for the marketing of OpenAI. OpenAI is making the world a worse place by inflating the cost of RAM and even getting rid of RAM chip providers from the consumer space. Not to mention all the wasted power on compute for all sorts of meaningless tasks. At least with something like Claude I am saving months if not years of engineering effort and resources in a few hours.

Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#203

Post by lrvick »

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)

Sam Altman is pro-extinctionist like most of the surveillance capitalist ghouls. He literally invests in mind uploading companies and believes only the rich deserve to "survive" the singularity he believes it is his job to bring about.

Sure, humans going extinct is good for the planet, I guess, but be up front about what you are really supporting.

Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#204

Post by pas »

overfeed wrote: post #192
pas wrote: post #174

Earlier quoted context omitted.

airBnB made a very constrained market more efficient, the downsides are classic NIMBY factors. (which are important, but also nothing has been solved in cities that outlawed AirBnB.) on the other hand Facebook made the internet hate machine more efficient :(

Why are NIMBY's to blame for hidden cleaning costs and hidden cameras in/near bathrooms?

because constrained supply leads to shitty solutions, and people spend their money on land rent instead of spending it on actual service (like making sure there are no hidden fees and cameras)

that said those are not new problems, and are not caused (nor exacerbated) by airBnB (likely the only tangentially significant factor is the decentralization of the hospitality industry thanks to online market places, and barriers to building more hotels, and of course people's preferences for renting something more unique, or simply something remote or secluded)

Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#205

Post by matthewaveryusa »

brendangregg wrote: post #58
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.

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…

I think it’s not about compensation or passion, but something a bit more abstract.

I’ll give it a shot; I think you’re successful in what you do and very altruistic and open, not only in your discoveries but also your opinions. You also have a higher sense of duty. as oscar wilde once said, we’re all in the gutter, but some of us are looking at the stars. compensation is boring gutter talk. It’s hard for people to reconcile your benevolence with your success, and just as the trope of joining a company to change the world is a veil for making money, so is the trope of criticizing the agent of change entering an industry because the industry is bad.

Personally I can’t wait to read about the inefficiencies you find and have a little glimpse into openai tech from your opinionated point of view.

Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#206

Post by closeparen »

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)

If you’re going to hold datacenter operators to blame for the waste associated with non-optimized computation, then it would seem to follow that they get some credit for optimizing.

Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#207

Post by torlok »

Thaxll wrote: post #19
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)

The AI train is going with or without you, if you can be part of it and improve the situaton, why not.

Same thing was said about crypto.

Re: Why I Joined OpenAI

#209

Post by inchargeoncall »

brendangregg wrote: post #58
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.

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…

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