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OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

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Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#411

Post by ilaksh »

no_wizard wrote: post #397
ilaksh wrote: post #237

I am not sure it really makes sense for the investors to continue with OpenAI. It seems like this incident proved that the constitution of the company wasn't really compatible with a profit focus. It was a split from the beginning, and obviously a questionable arrangement. It just came to a head to make it obvious. The business and investment people want to make money. Many of the researchers want to take their time…

Maybe. Or maybe they can profit differently going forward. Sam is not the reason OpenAI is gangbusters, its tech is. What I’m not hearing in any of this reporting is how Sam Altman is somehow the secret sauce. And it’s because he isn’t. This is “rules for thee but not for me”. He as a bad fit, 2/3 the board outed him, and investors are mad because they didn’t feel included. You know, like how they include employees i…

I agree that it's the tech and Altman isn't the secret sauce, but if Sutskever shuts down further product offerings, then the investors lose billions.

So I was just saying that from the investor's perspective, the concept was flawed or at least very questionable from the beginning.

Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#413

Post by [deleted] »

wilg wrote: post #395
no_wizard wrote: post #382

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not for the better why? Obviously Sam wasn’t the best fit for OpenAI and investors aren’t even saying what the problem is. Clearly the board feels he was the wrong person for the job. I think it’s ridiculous that everything thinks that Sam being outed means OpenAI is in trouble. Let this play out and see how it evolves

I think most people don’t think it was obvious Sam wasn’t the best fit for OpenAI.

[deleted]

Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#415

Post by karmasimida »

no_wizard wrote: post #382
woeirua wrote: post #319

If the reports are true, and Ilya led the coup, then either him or Sam can be at OpenAI going forward but not both. The rest of the board members who sided with him are gone either way. Regardless of who ends up at the helm, OpenAI is going to be a different place on Monday than it was on Thursday, and not for the better.

Not for the better why? Obviously Sam wasn’t the best fit for OpenAI and investors aren’t even saying what the problem is. Clearly the board feels he was the wrong person for the job. I think it’s ridiculous that everything thinks that Sam being outed means OpenAI is in trouble. Let this play out and see how it evolves

Not like the board, except Ilya has some real capital or expertise to convince everyone this is the right decision.

If they do, it is the perfect time to speak out loud, not letting this news bubbling up to the front page and everyone is talking about how disastrous they were?

What is this board waiting then? The weekend??

The board isn’t bullet proof and they are not god. They can fire Sam yes, it won’t stopping people thinking this is stupid or this won’t do more harm than good to OpenAI

Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#416

Post by fallingknife »

statictype wrote: post #232
Jensson wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> I hope Sam comes back Why? We would have more diversity in this space if he leaves, which would get us another AI startup with huge funding and know how from OpenAI, while OpenAI would become less Sam Altman like. I think him staying is bad for the field overall compared to OpenAI splitting in two.

How much of OpenAI’s success can you attribute to sama’s leadership and how much to the technical achievements of those who work under him. My understanding is that OpenAI’s biggest advantage is that they recruited and attracted the best in the field, presumably under the charter of providing AI for everyone. Not sure that sama and gdb starting their own company in the same space will produce similar results.

Who hired those people? The answer to that is either the founders or some chain of people hired by the founders. And hiring is hard. If you're good at hiring the right people and absolutely nothing else on earth, you will be better than 90% of CEOs.

Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#418

Post by jacquesm »

LewisVerstappen wrote: post #269
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #151

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Dude, everyone already thinks the board did a crazy ill-advised thing. They're about to be the board of like a 5 person or so company if they double down and commit. To be honest I hate takes like yours, where people think that acknowledging a mistake (even a giant mistake) is a sign of weakness. A bigger sign of weakness in my opinion is people who commit to a shitty idea just because they said it first, despite all…

> To be honest I hate takes like yours, where people think that acknowledging a mistake (even a giant mistake) is a sign of weakness. A bigger sign of weakness in my opinion is people who commit to a shitty idea just because they said it first, despite all evidence to the contrary. Lmfao you're joking if you think they "realized their mistake" and are now atoning. This is 99% from Microsoft & OpenAI's other investors…

> This is 99% from Microsoft & OpenAI's other investors.

Exactly. You can bet there have been some very pointed exchanges about this.

Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#419

Post by refulgentis »

no_wizard wrote: post #397
ilaksh wrote: post #237

I am not sure it really makes sense for the investors to continue with OpenAI. It seems like this incident proved that the constitution of the company wasn't really compatible with a profit focus. It was a split from the beginning, and obviously a questionable arrangement. It just came to a head to make it obvious. The business and investment people want to make money. Many of the researchers want to take their time…

Maybe. Or maybe they can profit differently going forward. Sam is not the reason OpenAI is gangbusters, its tech is. What I’m not hearing in any of this reporting is how Sam Altman is somehow the secret sauce. And it’s because he isn’t. This is “rules for thee but not for me”. He as a bad fit, 2/3 the board outed him, and investors are mad because they didn’t feel included. You know, like how they include employees i…

100%. Hear hear. It's very visible who knew about OpenAI before ChatGPT currently. It's somewhat frustrating to find 99.9999% of people had the standard genius-warrior-hero-CEO narrative locked in. I don't think even Sam in his most private of moments would come close to endorsing some of the hyperbole I've seen the past day.

Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#420

Post by adharmad »

croes wrote: post #257
adharmad wrote: post #187

Sam Altman should make it a condition of his return that the current board be dissolved and have a completely new board picked to avoid such dramatics in the future.

That sounds like something a dictator would do.

The board members should have a high degree of trust and cohesion. That does not mean they should see eye-to-eye on everything. But lack of trust and backstabbings like this can create a poisonous atmosphere on the board and ultimately affect the company's ability to execute effectively. If the CEO has to worry all the time if the board is going for his ouster, this will resemble the HP and Yahoo boards of the 2000s decade.
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