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Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

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Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

#281

Post by tsunamifury »

sekai wrote: post #172
fsckboy wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

if hot shot startup folks don't want to work there, why would they even go there? If you're flat broke, you need a job; they're not flat broke, they don't need a job. The deal at MS is worth it, or it's not, it's not something they need to decide over the course of a weekend... unless it's what they were already not being candid about.

> if hot shot startup folks don't want to work there, why would they even go there MSFT may have offered them a lucrative offer to join (for the time being) in order to alleviate the potential stock dump.

Sam is already post money rich. Lucrative isn’t in this equation

Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

#282

Post by padolsey »

impulser_ wrote: post #118

I'm guessing this is the end of OpenAI. People aren't going to want to work at OpenAI anymore due to the value destruction that just occurred. It's going to be hard for them to raise money now because of the bad rep they have now. It going to be hard for them to hire top talent. You have two leaders, top engineers and researchers leaving the company. Google and Facebook come in a grab up any top talent that still the…

There are engineers who care about the kinds of values that OpenAI was founded on, which have just been – arguably – reaffirmed and revalidated by this latest drama. OpenAI's commercialization was only ever a means to have sufficient compute to chase AGI… If you watch interviews of Ilya you'll see how reluctant he is on principle to yield to the need for profit incentives, but he understands it is a necessary evil to get all the GPUs. There are engineers, and increasingly, non-VC money, that have larger stakes in outcomes for humanity who I feel will back a 'purer' OpenAI.

Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

#283

Post by skc »

BSDobelix wrote: post #222
LewisVerstappen wrote: post #201

Satya is the best CEO in tech and it isnt even close

Honest question, why is he the best CEO?

Presumably because MSFT is the most highly diversified tech company on the planet and he's overseeing multiple billion dollar businesses there without breaking a sweat.

Not to mention the only big tech that seems to have a coherent AI strategy at the moment.

Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

#286

Post by anonymous_sorry »

mighmi wrote: post #254

Can someone help me understand what Sam's actual value is? He doesn't seem to be a particularly important practitioner/researcher re: AI and is "just" a CEO/salesman-evangelist to get funding, which Microsoft doesn't need? Is he particularly apt at leading/managing research teams? OpenAI's slow productization doesn't imply he's a product/idea guy a la Jobs.

Microsoft would at least like him not to do that job for a competitor.

Given they paid for a big stake in the market leader, and their stock price movements when this drama erupted, keeping these people in-house can be seen as damage control.

Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

#288

Post by 9dev »

I don’t quite buy your Cyberpunk utopia where the Megacorp finally rids us of those pesky ethics qualms (or ”shackles“, as you phrased it.) Microsoft can now proceed without the guidance of a council that actually has humanities interests in mind, not only those of Microsoft shareholders. I don’t know whether all that caution will turn out to have been necessary, but I guess we’re just gleefully heading into whatever lies ahead without any concern whatsoever, and learn it the hard way.

It’s a bit tragic that Ilya and company achieved the exact opposite of what they intended apparently, by driving those they attempted to slow down into the arms of people with more money and less morals. Well.

Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

#289

Post by kmlevitt »

BSDobelix wrote: post #222
LewisVerstappen wrote: post #201

Satya is the best CEO in tech and it isnt even close

Honest question, why is he the best CEO?

For a quick overview, google Microsoft stock and take a look at what happened to it after he became CEO in February 2014. It had been farting along at $24-35 a share with little lasting change since 2000. As soon as he got involved it started rising stratospherically and is now at about $360. Partnering with openAI turned out to be a brilliant idea that has helped them corner a brand new market. And poaching perhaps half their staff after an unforced error by their board is even shrewder.

Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

#290

Post by alvis »

mighmi wrote: post #247

What is Sam's actual value re: AI and not just as a CEO/salesman-evangelist to get funding, which Microsoft doesn't need? Is he particularly apt at leading/managing research teams? OpenAI's slow productization doesn't imply he's a product/idea guy a la Jobs.

Leadership - To stay top of the game, you can't just rely on brunch of engineers, but a person/team to pull everything into shape. Seeing how many employees are leaving for sama, you get the sense.
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