Why is this subject giving me Silicon Valley season 2 flashbacks with every update?
We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO
561–570 of 1001 posts
Re: We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO
#562The media and the VCs are treating Sam like some hero and savior of AI. I’m not getting it. What has he done in life and/or AI to deserve so much respect and admiration? Why don’t top researchers and scientists get equivalent (if not more) respect, admiration and support? It looks like one should strive to become product manager, not an engineer or a scientist.
To talk about OpenAi, Ilya Sutskever and Andrej Karpathy are much more known than Sam Altman. I'm sure that if Ilya had been removed from his role, the revolt movement would have been similar. I've started to like Sam only when he was removed from his position.
Isn't Ilya removed from the new, current board?
Re: We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO
#563Disappointing outcome. The process has conclusively confirmed that OpenAI is in fact not open and that it is effectively controlled by Microsoft. Furthermore, the overwhelming groupthink shows there's clearly little critical thinking amongst OpenAI's employees either. It might not seem like the case right now, but I think the real disruption is just about to begin. OpenAI does not have in its DNA to win, they're too…
I wonder if beyond the groupthinking we are seeing at least a more heterogeneous composition: a mix of people that includes business, pure research, engineering, and kind of spirituality-semireligion around [G]AI.
Re: We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO
#564Disappointing outcome. The process has conclusively confirmed that OpenAI is in fact not open and that it is effectively controlled by Microsoft. Furthermore, the overwhelming groupthink shows there's clearly little critical thinking amongst OpenAI's employees either. It might not seem like the case right now, but I think the real disruption is just about to begin. OpenAI does not have in its DNA to win, they're too…
> OpenAI is in fact not open
One wonders what will happen with Emet Shear's "investigation" in the process that lead to Sam's outing [0]. Was it even allowed to start?
Re: We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO
#565Disappointing outcome. The process has conclusively confirmed that OpenAI is in fact not open and that it is effectively controlled by Microsoft. Furthermore, the overwhelming groupthink shows there's clearly little critical thinking amongst OpenAI's employees either. It might not seem like the case right now, but I think the real disruption is just about to begin. OpenAI does not have in its DNA to win, they're too…
While I certainly agree that OpenAI isn't open and is effectively controlled by Microsoft, I'm not following the "groupthink" claims based on what just happened. If I'd been given the very fishy and vague reasons that it sounds like their staff were given, I think any rational person would be highly suspicious of the board, especially since some believe in fringe ideas, have COIs, or can be perceived as being jealous that they aren't the "face" of OpenAI.
Re: We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO
#566Disappointing outcome. The process has conclusively confirmed that OpenAI is in fact not open and that it is effectively controlled by Microsoft. Furthermore, the overwhelming groupthink shows there's clearly little critical thinking amongst OpenAI's employees either. It might not seem like the case right now, but I think the real disruption is just about to begin. OpenAI does not have in its DNA to win, they're too…
OpenAI is more open than my company’s AI teams, and that is even from my own insider relationship. As far as commercial relationships are concerned, I’d say they’re hitting the mark.
Re: We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO
#567I figured if Sam came back, the board would have to go as a condition. That's obvious. And deserved. The handling of this whole thing has been a very public clownshow.
Obviously, Microsoft has some influence here. That's no different to any other large investor. But the key factors are:
1. Lack of a good narrative from the board as to why they fired Sam;
2. Failure to loop in Microsoft so they're at least prepared from a communications front and feel like they were part of the process. The board can probably give them more details why privately;
3. People leaving in protest speaks well of Sam;
4. The employee letter speaks well of Sam;
5. The interim CEO clown show and lack of an all hands immediately after speaks poorly of the board.
Re: We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO
#568Why is this subject giving me Silicon Valley season 2 flashbacks with every update?
The script of SV2 was given as training data to the AGI that has taken over.
Re: We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO
#569Disappointing outcome. The process has conclusively confirmed that OpenAI is in fact not open and that it is effectively controlled by Microsoft. Furthermore, the overwhelming groupthink shows there's clearly little critical thinking amongst OpenAI's employees either. It might not seem like the case right now, but I think the real disruption is just about to begin. OpenAI does not have in its DNA to win, they're too…
Is it really a failure of critical thinking? The employees know what position is popular, so even people who are mostly against the go-fast strategy can see that they get to work on this groundbreaking thing only if they toe the line. It's also not surprising that people who are near the SV culture will think that AGI needs money to get developed, and that money in general is useful for the kind of business they are…
> Soviet Union
Or medieval Spain? About as likely... The Soviets weren't even able to get the factory floors clean enough to consistently manufacture the 8086 10 years after it was already outdated.
> maybe people would have somewhat different values, it's hard to know. But a thing that is founded by the posterboys for modern SV, it's gotta lean towards "money is mostly good".
Unfortunately not other system besides capitalism has enabled consistent technological progress for 200+ years. Turns out you need to pool money and resources to achieve things ..
Re: We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO
#570The media and the VCs are treating Sam like some hero and savior of AI. I’m not getting it. What has he done in life and/or AI to deserve so much respect and admiration? Why don’t top researchers and scientists get equivalent (if not more) respect, admiration and support? It looks like one should strive to become product manager, not an engineer or a scientist.
> It looks like one should strive to become product manager, not an engineer or a scientist. In my experience, product people who know what they are doing have a huge impact on the success of a company, product, or service. They also point engineering efforts in the right direction, which in turn also motivate engineers. I saw good product people leaving completely destroy a team, never seen that happen with a good e…
Depends why/how they left.
I have seen firing a great/respected/natural leader engineer result in pretty much the whole engineering team just up and leaving.