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Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

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Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

#471

Post by belter »

shubhamjain wrote: post #99

Have to give it to Satya. There's a thin possibility that Microsoft would have to write-off its whole $10B (or more?) investment in OpenAI, but that isn't Satya's focus. The focus is on what he can do next. Maybe, recruit the most formidable AI team in the world, removed from the shackles of an awkward non-profit owning a for-profit company? Give enough (cash) incentives and most of OpenAI employees would have no qua…

You are looking forward to a self-aware, self-replicating, unregulated Clippy?

Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

#473

Post by UrineSqueegee »

camillomiller wrote: post #372
9dev wrote: post #288

I don’t quite buy your Cyberpunk utopia where the Megacorp finally rids us of those pesky ethics qualms (or ”shackles“, as you phrased it.) Microsoft can now proceed without the guidance of a council that actually has humanities interests in mind, not only those of Microsoft shareholders. I don’t know whether all that caution will turn out to have been necessary, but I guess we’re just gleefully heading into whatever…

For one, I wish some of that caution could have been there when Facebook was in its OpenAI stage 15 years ago. A lot of people don't seem to realize that this mess is exactly what it looks like to slow down something now that could become something else we will all regret in 10 years.

> I wish some of that caution could have been there when Facebook was in its OpenAI stage 15 years ago.

I think I'm missing a slice of history here, what did Facebook do that could have been slowed down and it's a disaster now?

Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

#474

Post by lewhoo »

What I'm getting from all of this is the hype of AGI right around the corner got a bit exposed. I may be reading to much into it but if it were true then given an opportunity to be part of it you take it and put aside things that shouldn't matter at that point. I'm not even talking about Sam but the people who decided to leave with him. Of course this may be a completely false assumption given how little was disclosed, especially by Sutskever.

Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

#475

Post by loveparade »

peanuty1 wrote: post #324
loveparade wrote: post #233

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I agree, any potential hire who has the choice between OpenAI and the new team at MSFT will now choose the latter. And a lot of the current team will follow as well. This is probably the end of OpenAI. Can't say I'm too sad, finally a chance to erase that misleading name from history.

Do leading AI researchers at Google/Meta/OpenAI/Anthropic/HuggingFace want to work at Microsoft?

Yes, for most AI researchers the umbrella organization (or university) doesn't matter nearly as much as the specific lab. These people are not going to work at Microsoft, they are going to work at whatever that new org is going to be called, and that org is going to have a pretty high status.

Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

#476

Post by jampekka »

ah765 wrote: post #226
waihtis wrote: post #8

Anyone else find it strange that startup founders of the magnitude of Sam & Greg would join a gigantic corporation as employees? It sounds very out of line of what you'd expect.

I think Sam's goal is to create AGI, same as most of the other founders of OpenAI. If he just wanted money and power, he probably would have continued with YC or some other startup instead of joining the nonprofit and unproven OpenAI at the time. His opinion on the ideal path differs from Ilya's, but I'm guessing his goal remains the same. AGI is the most important thing to work on, and startups and corporations are…

Like Cyberdyne Systems was just a means of getting there.

Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

#478

Post by 9dev »

shubhamjain wrote: post #458
9dev wrote: post #288

I don’t quite buy your Cyberpunk utopia where the Megacorp finally rids us of those pesky ethics qualms (or ”shackles“, as you phrased it.) Microsoft can now proceed without the guidance of a council that actually has humanities interests in mind, not only those of Microsoft shareholders. I don’t know whether all that caution will turn out to have been necessary, but I guess we’re just gleefully heading into whatever…

I am not claiming how right or wrong the final outcome would be, but owning the technology with a clear "for-profit" objective is definitely a better structure for Microsoft and for Sam Altman as well (considering, his plans for the future). I have no opinion on AI risk. I just think that a super valuable technology under a non-profit objective was simply an untenable structure, regardless of potential threats.

This is precisely the problem OpenAI aimed to solve: This technology cannot be treated independently of the potential risks involved.

I agree that this solution seems beneficial for both Microsoft and Sam Altman, but it reflects poorly on society if we simply accept this version of the story without criticism.

Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

#479

Post by cowl »

shubhamjain wrote: post #99

Have to give it to Satya. There's a thin possibility that Microsoft would have to write-off its whole $10B (or more?) investment in OpenAI, but that isn't Satya's focus. The focus is on what he can do next. Maybe, recruit the most formidable AI team in the world, removed from the shackles of an awkward non-profit owning a for-profit company? Give enough (cash) incentives and most of OpenAI employees would have no qua…

I would say this is a better outcome for what remains of OpenAI. a New startup would have created more exodus that Microsoft. Doubt many brilliant researchers would want to be Employee number 945728123 of Microsoft when the market is theirs at this moment.

Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft

#480

Post by peanuty1 »

smooc wrote: post #63
karmasimida wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

And for the OpenAI employees, they can just switch the badge in a blink second, it almost feel like a no-brainer to many. I think Sam just took the easier route to rebuild OpenAI within MSFT. Now the trouble comes to the SV VCs they now will be furious.

He wasn't the guy who built it, he was the guy who got things funded. Let's see how many of the core OpenAI people join. I.e. the ones that weren't (just) there for the money / post ChatGPT.

Do OpenAI staff want to work for Microsoft?
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