[deleted]
Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor
501–510 of 798 posts
Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor
#502Like many hotshot young entrepreneurs, it is possible Sam learnt a lot from the firing and has done a 180 to go on to supporting others (seen by his support from OpenAI rank-and-file). He probably needed that life lesson (getting fired) to grow.
Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor
#503It came as a surprise for me to learn that PG fired Sam. It's the first time that I read this actually, and if that's true, I find it kind of mysterious that it remained a secret for so long. Or maybe I missed the news somehow but I could not find any other mention of that event on Google.
I've definitely never heard of it, and I was pretty shocked when I read it given how much positive stuff pg has written about sama, and the article itself says the firing "has not been previously reported". Reading some recent pg tweets through this lens, though, I think it makes sense. E.g. there is this tweet: https://twitter.com/paulg/status/1726198939517378988 . Both of the following can be true (and more to the…
> sometimes making decisions that are nominally about a higher goal but (not really coincidentally) are self-aggrandizing
"Had to be me. Someone else might have gotten it wrong."
Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor
#504Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor
#505Earlier quoted context omitted.
He was CEO of Y combinator, of which this forum is sponsored and maintained by. He’s the CEO of OpenAI, which is responsible for the most-discussed advancement in technology for the past year. So it’s not that unusual for this to be discussed on a technology-focused forum. He’s also the centre of a massive firestorm, where extremely atypical corporate behaviour was very recently taking place. Again, highly relevant t…
I definitely get the high-level of interest and reason it's a popular topic on here. What I don't get is the intense emotional investment people have in this person. Not so much on HN but definitely elsewhere in social media.
How AI will ultimately affect humanity is uncertain, so the stewardship of an extremely influential company in that field will be of general interest.
The specific reason for the board shenanigans seems to be related to this tension on how AI will or won’t be handled by the management of the tech companies which create and manage them.
All of these feels very relevant to the general public.
Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor
#506Sounds like Sam Altman is a sociopath.
Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor
#507Earlier quoted context omitted.
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.
You guys just believe whatever you read. Things that can easily be debunked with common sense. For example, there's a lot of yellow in this factory tour he did: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mr9kK0_7x08
I indeed see fairly minimal safety colors and patterns in that video. I don't know where you see "a lot".
And you do realize that there have been investigative journalists, federal inspections, and lawsuits regarding this? So all those people are just making it all up so that I can just believe whatever I read?
Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor
#508Earlier quoted context omitted.
> CEOs are professional communicators who have reached the highest level of the craft That's kind of silly, isn't it? Altman is a college dropout who has barely ever worked and somehow fell upward into CEO positions very quickly. His level of communication in talks and interviews is terrible, so I am genuinely confused where all this mystique comes from. He sounds like a college student being asked and talking about…
If you start thinking that CEOs aren't special and unique, then you might start thinking they don't need to be paid 350 times what the average employee does.
Yes.
Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor
#509From Paul Graham's Twitter, three days ago: "No one in the world is better than Sam at dealing with this kind of situation." Jessica Livingston retweet: "The reason I was a founding donor to OpenAI in 2015 was not because I was interested in AI, but because I believed in Sam. So I hope the board can get its act together and bring Sam and Greg back." Also from a sibling comment: https://twitter.com/search?q=from:paulg…
I sometimes think that at this level of the game everyone hates everyone else and its all politics. You don't "come out" for or against anyone publicly, you leave all of that under cover. It makes knowing who your friends and enemies are more difficult and it restricts your ability to maneuver. Another quote from my grandfather was "Mutual respect does not require that you like someone."
"like" or "hate" are words for people and petty personal conflicts.
It's counterproductive to take business conflicts personally. PG removed Sam Altman silently without harming his future. There is no reason to be enemies after the issue is solved. There may be deals to be made again.
Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor
#510CEOs are professional communicators who have reached the highest level of the craft, they use their communications to achieve an end, expressing their inner selves is not the point. You might know a great kind person who is a car salesman, when they are at work a good one comes off as genuine and friendly, the things they're saying include many truths, but their words and actions are primarily designed to sell cars.…
> CEOs are professional communicators who have reached the highest level of the craft That's kind of silly, isn't it? Altman is a college dropout who has barely ever worked and somehow fell upward into CEO positions very quickly. His level of communication in talks and interviews is terrible, so I am genuinely confused where all this mystique comes from. He sounds like a college student being asked and talking about…
If we concede that CEOs deserve their place in society then we can claim that we live in a meritocracy, the world is fair, and we deserve the good things that happen to us. It's a very comfortable thought.