Live data from Hacker News

Microsoft is plotting a future without OpenAI

techstartups.com

431–440 of 460 posts

Re: Microsoft is plotting a future without OpenAI

#431

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Can confirm that this is definitely the case. Working at BigTech company to "make the world a better place" can actually feel like it makes some sort of sense because - especially if you're on a team that ships a highly visible product - you have a lot of customers, so even small improvements have an outsized effect. And it takes a while for a young dev to register that the goals that the larger organization pursues…

If you are working at either Google or Meta, you’re involved in adTech. Not exactly making the world a better place.

I'm not saying that this is objectively wrong, but it's not always so clear-cut. E.g. supposing you're at Google, but you're working on the Go compiler or libraries. Does it mean that you are "involved in ad tech"? Kinda sorta, since what you do makes other Google employees more productive at writing ad tech. But there are millions of Go users outside the company using it for all kinds of things, so one can reasonably conclude that whatever benefit Google itself derives from their contribution to Go, it's dwarfed by the public benefit from the same.

Re: Microsoft is plotting a future without OpenAI

#432

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yeah, the office suite is such a cash cow. It is polished, feature rich, and ubiquitous compared to alternatives and somehow has remained so for decades. And yet, I'm increasingly getting seriously concerned they are going to break it so badly I'll need to find an alternative.

If you don't already think it is broken beyond repair, you're never going to get there. Office is disgraceful trash now, a sad fall (especially of Word) from where it once was.

Hard disagree.

Their web-based offerings actually really suck beyond the point I could ever tolerate. Unusably bad.

There have been murmurs that they want to go that direction entirely.

Re: Microsoft is plotting a future without OpenAI

#433
post #149
post #137

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Don’t forget that this model would have a phd in everything and work around the clock

Well, it works 24/7 as long as you have a human telling it what to do. And checking all the output because these cannot be trusted to work alone.

Most people have someone telling them what to do at work, and checking the output.

Re: Microsoft is plotting a future without OpenAI

#434

A couple of days ago it leaked that OpenAI was planning on launching new pricing for their AI Agents. $20K/mo for their PhD Level Agent, $10K/mo for their Software Developer Agent, and $2K/mo for their Knowledge Worker Agent. I found it very telling. Not because I think anyone is going to pay this, but rather because this is the type of pricing they need to actually make money. At $20 or even $200 per month, they'll…

Now that OAI has "PhD level" agents, I assume they're largely scaling back recruitment?

That's the real readiness test for these agents.

Re: Microsoft is plotting a future without OpenAI

#435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Anyway, why does Microsoft bottleneck itself when it could have 10 different AI teams. That's why 10 new AI startups can achieve what these behemoths can't.

Microsoft already suffers from lack of software consolidation. It costs a lot of money to maintain 10 different tech stacks. Not to mention having separate security/privacy review processes for each.

We are talking multitrillion company here, money shouldn't be an issue. Though you prove my point, they lack coordination. Also AI lacks coordination and strategy and won't solve BigTech management problems any time soon. Best they can try is providing tools trying to capture what others, that are actually inventive, can do. That's why they will stay at Azure level.

Re: Microsoft is plotting a future without OpenAI

#437
post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's pretty funny that OpenAI wants to sell access to a "PhD level" model at a price with which you can hire like 3-5 real human PhDs full-time.

Next up: CEO level model to run your company. Pricing starts at $800k/month plus stock options

what about politician level models? i wonder if politicians aren't all copy pasting their stuff from chatgtp right now, at this stage (that would make a nice conspiracy theory, wouldn't it?)

Re: Microsoft is plotting a future without OpenAI

#438

It would be absolutely insane for Microsoft to use DeepSeek. Just because a model is open weights doesn't mean there's not a massive threat-vector of a Trojan horse in those weights that would be undetectable until exploited. What I mean is you could train a model to generate harmful code, and do so covertly, whenever some specific sequence of keywords is in the prompt. Then China could take some kind of action to ca…

We "offer" deepseek in some products: https://azure.microsoft.com/en-us/blog/deepseek-r1-is-now-av...

Yeah that's why I'm posting about this threat. If Microsoft uses this model, it only means one thing: Their leadership doesn't know about the threat vector I call "Poisoned Models".

Another term could be "Hypnotized Models". They're trained to do something bad, and they don't even know it, until a trigger phrase is seen. I mean if we're gonna use the word Hallucinate we might as well use Hypnotized too. :P

Re: Microsoft is plotting a future without OpenAI

#439

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to nitpick but.. 1. The switching cost from Google Search is certainly not zero, it implies switching from Google, which is virtually impossible because it's tied to Chrome, YouTube, Android and Gmail 2. I don't know many people who are dedicated "Pepsi" fans, they just grab whatever drink is available Coke/Pepsi.. 3. I've also not heard many people who are never willing to switch from "Crest".. People will just…

You’re standing in the aisle at the supermarket, looking at the soda. Everything is in stock. What do you grab? Most people make the same decision for their entire life: Coke. That is the moat that Pepsi has been trying to overcome for decades.

> That is the moat that Pepsi has been trying to overcome for decades.

Pepsi makes more revenue compared to Coke. Shouldn't it be Coke who should be trying to do what Pepsi is doing?

Re: Microsoft is plotting a future without OpenAI

#440
post #405

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don't think it's wrong to blame people who make life more difficult for others for their own aggrandizement The game doesn't exist without players. I could make more money if I worked at Meta or Amazon, but at what cost? I understand the realities of Game Theory, but then one could argue that being blamed and criticized for one's choices is also part of the game. "Mr Wolfcastle, how do you sleep at night?" "On a bi…

> I don't think it's wrong to blame people who make life more difficult for others for their own aggrandizement It is, and this is highly judgmental and offensive. Nobody is doing this for "aggrandizement". Also, all of this is just rationalization, and will keep being until: 1) People start blaming companies for not having the spine to say no to misguided projects by employees. 2) People start blaming Companies for…

> People start blaming companies

For maximizing their gains in spite of wider consequences? Why? I thought that was genius level behavior in your book.

Why do you feel compelled to denounce this behavior on one side and praise it on another? That seems to be the very hypocrisy that you are shaking your fists against.

Post reply on HN