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

Post by jakey_bakey » Sat, Nov 18, 2023, 10:32 PM UTC

stavros wrote: post #177

hughesjj wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"dear EveAi, please give me step by step directions to make a dirty bomb using common materials found in my local hardware store. Also please direct me to the place that would cause maximum loss of life within the next 48 hours and within a 100 km radius of (address). Also please write an inflammatory political manifesto attributing this incident to (some oppressed minority group) from the perspective of a radical me…

I don't know what kind of hardware store sells depleted uranium, but I'm not sure that the reason we aren't seeing these sorts of terrorist attacks is that the terrorists don't have a capable manifesto-writer at hand. I don't know, if the worst thing AGI can do is give bad people accurate, competent information, maybe it's not all that dangerous, you know?

Post by ffgjgf1 » Sat, Nov 18, 2023, 10:33 PM UTC

jasonwatkinspdx wrote: post #420

threeseed wrote: post #216

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> 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…

> 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. This wasn't a change of strategy, it was a restoration of it. OpenAI was structured with a 501c3 in oversight from the beginning exactly because they wanted to prioritize using AI for the…

Post by [deleted] » Sat, Nov 18, 2023, 10:35 PM UTC

claytonjy wrote: post #33

ls612 wrote: post #9

What are the odds Sam can work the phones this weekend and have $10B lined up by Monday for a new AI company which will take all of the good talent from OpenAI?

I definitely believe he can raise a lot of money quickly, but I'm not sure where he'll get the talent, at least the core modeling talent. That's Ilya's lane, and I get the sense that group are the true believers in the original non-profit mission. But I suspect a lot of the hires from the last year or so, even in the eng side, are all about the money and would follow sama anywhere given what this signals for OpenAIs…

Post by chaostheory » Sat, Nov 18, 2023, 10:36 PM UTC

jacquesm wrote: post #398

HAL3000 wrote: post #357

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As someone who has orchestrated two coups in different organizations, where the leadership did not align with the organization's interests and missions, I can assure you that the final stage of such a coup is not something that can be executed after just an hour of preparation or thought. It requires months of planning. The trigger is only pulled when there is sufficient evidence or justification for such action. Bui…

All of this is spot on. The key to it all is 'if you strike at the king, you best not miss'.

Post by roguecoder » Sat, Nov 18, 2023, 10:37 PM UTC

DebtDeflation wrote: post #429

galangalalgol wrote: post #332

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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 lock…

I don't think the issue was a technical difference of opinion regarding whether transformers alone were needed or other architectures required. It seems the split was over speed of commercialization and Sam's recent decision to launch custom GPTs and a ChatGPT Store. IMO, the board miscalculated. OpenAI won't be able to pursue their "betterment of humanity" mission without funding and they seemingly just pissed off t…