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Musk-led group makes $97B bid for control of OpenAI

reuters.com

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Re: Musk-led group makes $97B bid for control of OpenAI

#251

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Elon's response: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1889062013109703009 > Swindler In another tweet chain: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1889063777792069911 > Scam Altman

Such a child

On one hand, I used to look at these super successful people with a pretty heavy dose of envy. Now I honestly don't, because I find their behavior reprehensible and disgusting, and just so childishly stupid. Granted, I'm fortunate enough that I really don't want for material goods (that's also because I realized I don't need very much), so I might feel differently if I had to slave away at some job I hated.

Being a "nerd" who graduated HS in the 90s has been a weird arc. At first you got out and were like "yes! I survived HS", and then for a while you had skills that were valued, and now it feels like the whole world has devolved into a shitty sequel to Mean Girls.

Re: Musk-led group makes $97B bid for control of OpenAI

#252

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There are a lot of bluesky users who really hate Musk and they post a lot whenever he does anything.

I don't think there are a lot of Bluesky users to begin with.

Significantly more than Trump Social has and that "company" is "worth" billions on paper

ATProtocol is going to break the hold billionaires have over social media by leveling the playing field via a common and shared social graph. Having a single account for all apps removes the inherent lockin from network effect

Re: Musk-led group makes $97B bid for control of OpenAI

#253
post #78

With first mover advantage disappearing for OpenAI and very good alternatives appearing, one wonders how long they can sustain a multi billion dollar per year loss[0]. The launch of ChatGPT was earth shaking, but what have they done since that impacts or excites the average consumer? Does their revenue even come from the average consumer, or primarily from API users that will lift and shift to a viable competitor? I…

ChatGPT is an extremely successful consumer product. Looking at Search traffic alone indicates they clearly have large brand value. Usage doesn't just depend on just benchmarks for most consumers.

As more advanced AI features get bundled into apps that users are already using like Google Search, FB, etc. there will be less incentive to have a separate ChatGPT subscription (even if it's slightly better, it won't matter to most people).

Re: Musk-led group makes $97B bid for control of OpenAI

#254

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How much of it is tied up to a criminally overvalued Tesla stock though? Sure, Tesla could go to zero and he'd still be a fabulously wealthy man, but with how things are moving - It wouldn't surprise me that he's about the fall down the ranks. Let's see how much power he has once the "richest man in the world" aura fades away.

I reckon Musk is so over extended that the only reason he’s doing what he’s doing is to basically rob what he can to cover it before a bigger fish comes along and he falls off a yacht like Madoff.

How do you mean? There were major loans to buy Twitter, but AFAIK Musk brought on a bunch of other people so that's not entirely on him. Other than that what is he extended into?

Re: Musk-led group makes $97B bid for control of OpenAI

#255
post #8

Sam’s reply on twitter[0] no thank you but we will buy twitter for $9.74 billion if you want [0] https://x.com/sama/status/1889059531625464090 ?

Elon's response: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1889062013109703009 > Swindler In another tweet chain: https://x.com/elonmusk/status/1889063777792069911 > Scam Altman

Sam could reply with Elon Skum !

Re: Musk-led group makes $97B bid for control of OpenAI

#256

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I typically like Elon about 70% of the time, but I need to agree here. I don't quite understand how he suddenly got so much influence.

I liked Elon until about 2018. Since then he's gradually degraded from "interesting founder" to "guy who picks fights about weird topics on the internet" to "absurdist oligarch actively working to destroy institutions which support average Americans." I certainly suspect that there were always elements of what he's become that just weren't as publicly apparent.

I really like “absurdist oligarch”. “Rich awkward joker” also comes to mind.

Re: Musk-led group makes $97B bid for control of OpenAI

#257

> "It's time for OpenAI to return to the open-source, safety-focused force for good it once was," Musk said in the press release. "We will make sure that happens."" From the creator of Grok, this is such an insane thing to say

None of these people have any shame anymore, it's just exponentially growing levels of unwarranted chutzpah.

Re: Musk-led group makes $97B bid for control of OpenAI

#258
post #60

> to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI What does it mean to buy a nonprofit? Who owns it now? Does anyone?

Nonprofits generally have to break out unrelated business income [1] into for-profit companies that pay tax and pass the post-tax profit to the non-profit. In this case OpenAI the nonprofit owns OpenAI Global, LLC which is the entity that operates their API/ChatGPT and receives the investments from Microsoft et al. Other examples include Mozilla Foundation and Mozilla Corporation, which receives the payments from Goo…

> Musk is offering to buy the forprofit from the nonprofit

But that's not what the article says. It specifically says he's offering "to buy the nonprofit that controls OpenAI", not the for-profit that it owns. That's why I'm confused.

Re: Musk-led group makes $97B bid for control of OpenAI

#259

It feels like Musk is single-handedly making a great case for why unlimited accumulation of wealth is a bad idea. It's pretty colorful language, but my mind immediately jumps to "financial terrorist". He's using his enormous amount of wealth and influence as a weapon to bludgeon anyone and anything in his way.

> He's using his enormous amount of wealth and influence as a weapon to bludgeon anyone and anything in his way. Using your "enormous amount of wealth" as a weapon means you'll be frittering away that wealth very quickly. Especially since others will be inclined to take the other side of the bet as soon as they catch on to it happening.

> you'll be frittering away that wealth very quickly

Musk’s vulnerability is Tesla. He has personally levered those shares in a way that makes him vulnerable to political retribution. (Banning cameras-only self-driving being one option. Politicising recalls being the nuclear one.)

Re: Musk-led group makes $97B bid for control of OpenAI

#260
post #169

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I absolutely hate how much CEOs acting like children / influencers has become the norm. Maybe they were always like this, and twitter has just given us a window into it, but I for one would wholeheartedly welcome a return to "respectability" norms for business and civic leaders.

That would require the death of social media.

One can only wish
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