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Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

washingtonpost.com

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Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#381

Post by nottorp »

demadog wrote: post #274

I predict his character arch will be similar to Adam Neumann and Travis Kalanick - first the media gushes over him and praises him as a genius. Then the media starts to question him. Then they start to fully dig in and dig up a ton of dirt. With no mainstream outlet pushing forth the allegations his sister is claiming on social, I imagine right now they are looking under every rock on that end. I respect his hustle b…

> there is something about him in watching him speak live and in person

Greatest mistake you can make is watch someone speak live about what they're selling. If they're a good actor they'll win you over.

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#382

Post by cactusplant7374 »

laaaaea wrote: post #70
intellectronica wrote: post #54

Sensationalist clickbait title. There's nothing in the article that supports the claim that Altman has been "fired". It's almost invariably the case that to most of us, people who are powerful and effective appear "manipulative". In fact, they are manipulative, which is how they achieve so much. It's only a problem if they are manipulative in the service of goals that are unethical or harmful. See also: https://www.r…

> nothing in the article that supports the claim that Altman has been "fired". it's worse. The article say he invested in companies he was being paid to evaluate for YC, perfect reason to end an exec career. And then was NOT fired.

Isn’t that what PG does? Isn’t that what YC does?

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#383

Post by huytersd »

demadog wrote: post #274

I predict his character arch will be similar to Adam Neumann and Travis Kalanick - first the media gushes over him and praises him as a genius. Then the media starts to question him. Then they start to fully dig in and dig up a ton of dirt. With no mainstream outlet pushing forth the allegations his sister is claiming on social, I imagine right now they are looking under every rock on that end. I respect his hustle b…

[flagged]

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#384

Post by [deleted] »

basisword wrote: post #358
armchairhacker wrote: post #354

Why was Sam fired from Y Combinator? Why was he fired from OpenAI? Not saying he's good or trustworthy, but it's unfair to speak badly about him without evidence or even examples of wrongdoing.

Isn't being fired implicit evidence of wrongdoing? Especially when it's not an isolated incident.

[deleted]

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#385

Post by rglover »

bobsmooth wrote: post #378
Arson9416 wrote: post #340

Step 1: Dazzle an influential person Step 2: Persuade them to hitch their reputation to you Step 3: Do whatever you want with minimal repercussions Follow these 3 steps and influential people will actively fight on your behalf, against their own best interests, to avoid embarrassing themselves and diminishing their reputations. Use each influential person as a stepping stone to an even more influential person and rep…

Tips on step 2?

Appeal to ego.

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#387

Post by bmitc »

objektif wrote: post #148
coliveira wrote: post #22

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is the kind of person we have controlling the future of AI. He and Elon Musk. Between these two we are assured complete destruction.

What is wrong with Musk again?

He personally does not like the color yellow, so he required it not used in safety contexts just because of that. So he put workers' safety at risk because he may have to see pictures or tour the area once every quarter. There are more stories like this ad nauseum. Or, you could just read his Twitter feed.

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#388

Post by fhub »

Shortly after it happened the rumor in SF was that Altman was distracted and not really dotting the i's and crossing the t's. Like they had a cash flow issue where they had to ask for a top up from investors which was a bit embarrassing. Anyway, just a rumor.

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#389

Post by 1123581321 »

rsynnott wrote: post #56
Merrill wrote: post #25

Based on the article and the loyalty shown by openai employees, he appears to be the "difficult to manage" type, rather than the "difficult to work for" type. That's not necessarily a bad thing in employees. I was once told that it is easier to round off the corners of a cube than to develop corners on a sphere.

IME one almost always implies the other.

I haven’t seen that. Some of my favorite coworkers and managers have been people who were hard to manage. It’s because they have strong principles and they prioritize good relations with their peers and subordinates over being promotable.

I understand you are probably talking about people who uniformly act like jerks but I haven’t found them to be as common.

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#390

Post by whatshisface »

tempaccount420 wrote: post #349
Arson9416 wrote: post #340

Step 1: Dazzle an influential person Step 2: Persuade them to hitch their reputation to you Step 3: Do whatever you want with minimal repercussions Follow these 3 steps and influential people will actively fight on your behalf, against their own best interests, to avoid embarrassing themselves and diminishing their reputations. Use each influential person as a stepping stone to an even more influential person and rep…

Or, when you fire people, have a clear reason for it. Not being "consistently candid" is not that.

You want companies to post the reasons for every firing on Twitter?
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