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Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI

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Re: Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI

#331

Post by mhh__ »

g42gregory wrote: post #182

My feeling is the the commercial side of the OpenAI brand is gone. How could OpenAI customers depend on the company, when the non-profit board goes against their interests (by slowing down the development and giving them inferior product)? On the other hand, the AGI side of the OpenAI brand is just fine. They will continue the responsible AGI development, spearheaded by Ilya Sutskever. My best wishes for them to succ…

I am curious what happens to ChatGPT now.

If it's true that this is in part over Dev day and such, and they may have a point, however if useful stuff with AI that helps people is gauche is OpenAI just going to turn into increasingly insular cult? ClosedAI but this time you can't even pay for it?

Re: Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI

#332

Post by galangalalgol »

dragonwriter wrote: post #307
threeseed wrote: post #216

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> The board's job is not to do right There is why you do something. And there is how you do something. OpenAI is well within its rights to change strategy even as bold as from a profit-seeking behemoth to a smaller research focused team. But how they went about this is appalling, unprofessional and a blight on corporate governance. They have blind-sided partners (e.g. Satya is furious), split the company into two cam…

> split the company into two camps The split existed long prior to the board action, and extended up into the board itself. If anything, the board action is a turning point toward decisively ending the split and achieving unity of purpose.

Can someone explain the sides? Ilya seems to think transformers could make AGI and they need to be careful? Sam said what? "We need to make better LLMs to make more money."? My general thought is that whatever architecture gets you to AGI, you don't prevent it from killing everyone by chaining it better, you prevent that by training it better, and then treating it like someone with intrinsic value. As opposed to locking it in a room with 4chan.

Re: Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI

#333

Post by nprateem »

I wouldn't be surprised if this is the chief scientist getting annoyed the CEO is taking all the credit for the work and the researchers aren't getting as much time in the limelight. It's probably the classic 'Meatloaf vs the guy who actually wrote the songs' thing.

Re: Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI

#334

Post by austhrow743 »

Draiken wrote: post #269
duped wrote: post #260

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The primary job of an early stage tech CEO is to convince people to give you those billions of dollars, one doesn't come without the other.

Which proves my point. This cult on top of someone that simply convinced people (they knew from their connections) being considered a genius is absurd.

Convincing people is the ultimate trade. It can achieve more than any other skill.

The idea that success at it shouldn’t be grounds for the genius label is absurd.

Re: Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI

#335

Post by bmitc »

threeseed wrote: post #216
wolverine876 wrote: post #46

> Angel investor Ron Conway wrote, "What happened at OpenAI today is a Board coup that we have not seen the likes of since 1985 when the then-Apple board pushed out Steve Jobs. It is shocking; it is irresponsible; and it does not do right by Sam & Greg or all the builders in OpenAI." With all sympathy and empathy for Sam and Greg, whose dreams took a blow, I want to say something about investors [edit: not Ron Conway…

> The board's job is not to do right There is why you do something. And there is how you do something. OpenAI is well within its rights to change strategy even as bold as from a profit-seeking behemoth to a smaller research focused team. But how they went about this is appalling, unprofessional and a blight on corporate governance. They have blind-sided partners (e.g. Satya is furious), split the company into two cam…

> They have blind-sided partners (e.g. Satya is furious), split the company into two camps and have let Sam and Greg go angry and seeking retribution.

Given the language in the press release, wouldn't it be more accurate to say that Sam Altman, and not the board, blindsided everyone? It was apparently his actions and no one else's that led to the consequence handed out by the board.

> Which in turn now creates the threat that a for-profit version of OpenAI dominates the market with no higher purpose.

From all current accounts, doesn't that seem like what Altman and his crew were already trying to do and was the reason for the dismissal in the first place?

Re: Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI

#336

Post by mikrl »

dragonwriter wrote: post #295
mikrl wrote: post #285

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Has the US ever stated or followed a policy of neutrality and openness? OpenAI positioned itself like that, much the same way Switzerland does in global politics.

> Has the US ever stated or followed a policy of neutrality Yes, most of the time from the founding until the First World War. > and openness? Not sure what sense of "openness" is relevant here.

> Not sure what sense of "openness" is relevant

It is in the name OpenAI… not that I think the Swiss are especially transparent, but neither are the USA.

Re: Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI

#337

Post by Jare »

threeseed wrote: post #311
6gvONxR4sf7o wrote: post #294

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> They have … split the company into two camps By all accounts, this split happened a while ago and led to this firing, not the other way around.

The split happened at the management/board level. And instead of resolving this and presenting a unified strategy to the company they have instead allowed for this split to be replicated everywhere. Everyone who was committed to a pro-profit company has to ask if they are next to be treated like Sam. It's incredibly destabilising and unnecessary.

> Everyone who was committed to a pro-profit company has to ask if they are next to be treated like Sam.

They probably joined because it was the most awesome place to pursue their skills in AI, but they _knew_ they were joining an organization with explicitly not a profit goal. If they hoped that profit chasing would eventually win, that's their problem and, frankly, having this wakeup call is a good thing for them so they can reevaluate their choices.

Re: Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI

#338

Post by rafaelero »

eightysixfour wrote: post #226
rafaelero wrote: post #187

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Such a bad take. Developers (me included) loved Dev Day.

Yeah - I think this is the schism. Sam is clearly a product person, these are AI people. Dev day didn’t meaningfully move the needle on AI, but for people building products it sure did.

The fact that this is a schism is already weird. Why do they care how the company transforms the technology coming from the lab into products? It's what pay their salaries in the end of the day and, as long as they can keep doing their research work, it doesn't affect them. Being resented about a thing like this to the point of calling it a "absolute embarrassment" when it clearly wasn't is childish to say the least.

Re: Details emerge of surprise board coup that ousted CEO Sam Altman at OpenAI

#339

Post by croes »

g42gregory wrote: post #251
croes wrote: post #227

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a bad idea to make yourself dependent on a new service from the outset. They could have gone bankrupt, been sued into the ground, taken over by Microsoft... Just look at the just because they fired their CEO. Was the success based on GPT or the CEO? The former is still their and didn't get inferior. Slower growth doesn't mean shrinking

As an AI professional, I am very interested to hear about OpenAI's ideas, directions, safety programs, etc... As a commercial customer, the only things I am interested in is the quality of the commercial product they provide to me. Will they have my interests in mind going forward? Will they devote all their energy in delivering the best, most advanced product to me? Will robust support and availability be there in t…

>Will they have my interests in mind going forward? Will they devote all their energy in delivering the best, most advanced product to me?

Sorry to burt you bubble but the primary motivation of a for-profit company is ... profit.

If they make more money in screwing you, they will. Amazon, Google, Walmart, Microsoft, Oracle etc.

The customer is never a priority, just a means to an end.

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