Oh my goodness, this just gets more entertaining everyday.
Money talks...
OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns
261–270 of 1001 posts
Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns
#262Well, great to see that the potentially dangerous future of AGI is in good hands.
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Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns
#263> Remarkably, the letter’s signees include Ilya Sutskever, the company’s CTO who has been blamed for coordinating the boardroom coup against Altman in the first place. What in the world is happening at OpenAI?
Watching all this drama unfold in the public is unprecedented. I guess it makes sense. There has never been a company like OpenAI, in terms or governance and product, so I guess it makes sense that their drama leads us in to unchartered territory.
I guess this is the Open in OpenAI, eh?
Absolutely bonkers.
Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns
#264Earlier quoted context omitted.
Yeah, what the hell? Do we know why Murati was replaced?
Apparently she tried to rehire Sam and Greg. I don't think she actually had anything to do with the coup, she was only slightly less blindsided than everyone else.
But wouldn’t the coup have required 4 votes out of 6 which means she voted yes? If not then the coup was executed by just 3 board members? I’m confused.
Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns
#265Deservedly or not, Satya Nadella will look like a genius in the aftermath. He has and will continue to leverage this situation to strengthen MSFT's position. Is there word of any other competitors attempting to capitalize here? Trying to poach talent? Anything...
Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns
#266Ilya posted this on Twitter: "I deeply regret my participation in the board's actions. I never intended to harm OpenAI. I love everything we've built together and I will do everything I can to reunite the company." https://twitter.com/ilyasut/status/1726590052392956028
Trying to put the toothpaste back in the tube. I seriously doubt this will work out for him. He has to be the smartest stupid person that the world has seen.
He seriously underestimated how much rank and file employees want $$$ over an idealistic vision (and sam altman is $$$) but if he backs down now, he will pretty much lose all credibility as a decision maker for the company.
Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns
#267inb4: this is why we need unions!
Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns
#268This was handled so very, very poorly. Frankly it's looking like Microsoft is going to come out of this better than anyone, especially if they end up getting almost 500 new AI staff out of it (staff that already function well as a team). > In their letter, the OpenAI staff threaten to join Altman at Microsoft. “Microsoft has assured us that there are positions for all OpenAI employees at this new subsidiary should we…
In hindsight firing Sam was a self-destructing gamble by the OpenAI board. Initially it seemed Sam may have committed some inexcusable financial crime but doesn't look so anymore. Irony is that if a significant portion of OpenAI staff opt to join Microsoft, then Microsoft essentially killed their own $13B investment in OpenAI earlier this year. Better than acquiring for $80B+ I suppose.
>, then Microsoft essentially killed their own $13B investment in OpenAI earlier this year.
For investment deals of that magnitude, Microsoft probably did not literally wire all $13 billion to OpenAI's bank account the day the deal was announced.
More likely that the $10b to $13 headline-grabbing number is a total estimated figure that represents a sum of future incremental investments (and Azure usage credits, etc) based on agreed performance milestones from OpenAI.
So, if OpenAI doesn't achieve certain milestones (which can be more difficult if a bunch of their employees defect and follow Sam & Greg out the door) ... then Microsoft doesn't really "lose $10b".
Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns
#269Sam already signed up with Microsoft. A move that surprised me, I figured he would just create OpenAI². Joining a corporate behemoth like Microsoft and all the complications it brings with it will mean a massive reduction in the freedom and innovation that Sam is used to from OpenAI (prior to this mess). Or is Microsoft saying: Here is OpenAI², a Microsoft subsidiary created juste for you guys. You can run it and do…
I think the benefit of going to Microsoft is they have that perpetual license to OpenAI's existing IP. And Microsoft is willing to fund the compute.
Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns
#270It's not clear to me that bringing Sam back is even an option anymore given the more with Microsoft. Does Microsoft really takes it's boot off OpenAI's neck and hand back Sam? I guess maybe, but it still begs all sorts of questions about the corporate structure.
No small employer wants a disgruntled employee who was forced out of a better deal. Satya Nadella has proven reasonable throughout the weekend. I would expect he asked for a seat on the board if there's a reshuffle, or at least someone he trusts there.