Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

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

reuters.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

321–330 of 1001 posts

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

#321

Post by tenpies »

rendang wrote: post #228

> consortium led by Elon Musk Are there other major investors involved here or just Musk?

Given that it's being done through xAI, it seems reasonable to think that most parties from December's series C would also at least entertain the idea:

> A16Z, Blackrock, Fidelity Management & Research Company, Kingdom Holdings, Lightspeed, MGX, Morgan Stanley, OIA, QIA, Sequoia Capital, Valor Equity Partners and Vy Capital, amongst others. Strategic investors NVIDIA and AMD also participated and continue to support xAI in rapidly scaling our infrastructure.

From: https://x.ai/blog/series-c

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

#322

Post by anotherhue »

_2d30 wrote: post #279

A lot of people are unsurprisingly throwing shade on Musk being involved here but I think it's really important to understand what this is fundamentally about: stopping or fundamentally changing OpenAI's plans to be spun off. The issue at hand is that OpenAI (the private, currently "capped profit" entity, henceforth in this post referred to as OpenAI-P) is trying to get spun out of control of the OpenAI non-profit (h…

This is a well known unsolved problem in theoretical investment science.

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

#323

Post by beAbU »

m_fayer wrote: post #256
jredwards wrote: post #168

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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.

"Trolling Edgelord" comes to mind for me. It's as if all this is one big joke to him, and he gets a kick out of everyone being upset by his antics.

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

#324

Post by Fnoord »

lightbendover wrote: post #205
mattmaroon wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He founded (for some definition) the two most impressive American corporations of the century and tweeted a lot to build a direct connection to people.

You may be referring to PayPal as one of those companies, but in case you’re not: Elon did not found Tesla.

He didn't found PayPal either. He founded X.com, and they happened to merge with Confinity who owned the brand PayPal. Confinity existed before X.com (and had better brand recognition with PayPal), and if Musk would've had it his way, PayPal as brand wouldn't exist post-merge; it would have been called X.com.

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

#325

Post by scarface_74 »

diogocp wrote: post #320
scarface_74 wrote: post #225

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What’s impressive about Tesla? It’s already being outcompeted by companies in China, losing market share, and the other manufacturers are catching up. Besides that, he’s pissed off the demographics most likely to buy Teslas. It’s not like most Trump voters are buying EVs

> What’s impressive about Tesla? The fact that it's worth more than all the other automakers combined. > the other manufacturers are catching up Re-read what you wrote, and consider how preposterous it is that automakers founded more than a century ago are now "catching up" to a company that sold its first car in 2008.

Well, Trump’s various meme coins also have a value…

But, using pricing fundamentals, can you really justify Tesla’s value anymore than OpenAIs?

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

#326

Post by rvba »

insane_dreamer wrote: post #253
typs wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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).

The one bundled to google search is so poor quality that it is degrading google experience...

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

#327

Post by danparsonson »

_2d30 wrote: post #279

A lot of people are unsurprisingly throwing shade on Musk being involved here but I think it's really important to understand what this is fundamentally about: stopping or fundamentally changing OpenAI's plans to be spun off. The issue at hand is that OpenAI (the private, currently "capped profit" entity, henceforth in this post referred to as OpenAI-P) is trying to get spun out of control of the OpenAI non-profit (h…

I probably misunderstand you but why should it be fundamentally about that and not fundamentally about controlling more valuable technology? The example of Twitter clearly demonstrates that despite the Dear Leader's altruistic claims, he's after money and power just the same as anyone else.

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

#328

Post by eagerpace »

scarface_74 wrote: post #225
mattmaroon wrote: post #158

Earlier quoted context omitted.

He founded (for some definition) the two most impressive American corporations of the century and tweeted a lot to build a direct connection to people.

What’s impressive about Tesla? It’s already being outcompeted by companies in China, losing market share, and the other manufacturers are catching up. Besides that, he’s pissed off the demographics most likely to buy Teslas. It’s not like most Trump voters are buying EVs

No doubt he needs to distance himself from the company so that his political career stops impacting it so directly. The business is over valued but still very impressive. Yes the software is controversial, but the hardware is fantastic and a decade ahead of what other domestic automakers are doing. They’re also profitable and have a long term vision to innovate unlike many industry peers who chase the government mandate du jour.

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

#329

Post by disqard »

theoryofx wrote: post #233
stronglikedan wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

really? I'm curious to know what he's failed at. Seems like he's making all the right moves lately.

I really thought his inauguration performance (the drugs, the saluting) would finally wake people up to what's going on what Elon Musk. To anyone who can see it (maybe it takes some relevant life experience), it's patently obvious he's been spiraling down a dark hole of drugs, depression, ego, burn out, and addiction. He's in a very dark place and lashing out, hurting himself and others, like so many people in dark p…

Your take is radically empathetic, and we have seen (e.g. with Tony Hsieh) how it all unraveled.

I wonder if Shitter is a big factor in this spiral. Jaron Lanier pointed this out in Nov 2022 [1].

Unfortunately, if so, we have a worst-case scenario of "getting high on your own supply", and nobody can cut him off (or stage an "intervention").

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/11/opinion/trump-musk-kanye-...

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

#330

Post by Havoc »

minimaxir wrote: post #61
irs wrote: 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

Musk borrowing from Trump's playbook...childish nicknames
Post reply on HN