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Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

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Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#591

I predict his character arch will be similar to Adam Neumann and Travis Kalanick - first the media gushes over him and praises him as a genius. Then the media starts to question him. Then they start to fully dig in and dig up a ton of dirt. With no mainstream outlet pushing forth the allegations his sister is claiming on social, I imagine right now they are looking under every rock on that end. I respect his hustle b…

> there is something about him in watching him speak live and in person Greatest mistake you can make is watch someone speak live about what they're selling. If they're a good actor they'll win you over.

Accurate. Psychology, history and the intersection thereof broadly supports the idea that we drastically overestimate our ability to measure character and intention based on in-person interactions. Some oft cited cases being how numerous British public figures who sat down with Hitler tragically misread his intentions, in contrast to those who appraised him from a distance based on actions, policies and writings. Likewise, GWB's famous ability to peer into Putin's soul.

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#592
post #584
post #570

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Not to me, when those "business partners" are in charge of some agencies like YC that do influence the society we live in.

If I didn’t know I was on HN I would after a comment like this.

Naive, in the extreme.

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#593
2015, so like 8 years ago. People do change. And there's two people here.

Also, in general, when you have a CEO that's passionate, they tend to be bossy. If you don't have that, then you're just passing the time until the VC money is gone.

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#594

From 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 must confess I was hoping for a more sordid tale of Silicon Valley sociopathy, like someone using a potted plant in an office at YC HQ as a makeshift toilet, as a means of settling a petty disagreement. Imagine my disappointment reading this was a run-of-the-mill case of divergent minds.

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#595
post #503

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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."

Damn this line still pulls at the heart strings... Might have to replay

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#596

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think I'm out of the loop on tweet protocol...What's the significance of all lowercase?

All lowercase signals casual aloofness; it says the situation doesn't meet your bar for formality. It's like Zuckerberg wearing a hoodie when meeting with Wall Street types.

[deleted]

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#597
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post #392

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Founder CEOs are a different breed. There's a plenty of successful founder CEOs who don't fit the typical hired CEO pattern. Zuckerberg, Sweeney, etc.

Is Elon a founder CEO of Twitter, Tesla, or SpaceX?

Maybe founder isn't the most accurate word here. Maybe 'owner CEO', i.e. has major control of the company. He is definitely not 'hired CEO' in any of those. (also he is CTO of Twitter, not CEO).

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#598
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> Another person familiar with Altman’s thinking said he was willing to meet with the board’s shortlist of proposed candidates, except for one person whom he declined on ethical grounds. Now you have me interested, who could that one person be? Charles Koch? Henry Kissinger? Because many of those I would normally have guessed are either in the article as possible collaborator (middle-easter connection) or is already…

> Henry Kissinger? I think his stock as potential boardmember probably went down with his service on the Theranos board.

If accepting a job offer from Richard Nixon doesn't sink you, then nothing will.

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#599

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Nor in 2022 when it was first archived by Wayback (unless archives from previous have been removed) https://web.archive.org/web/20230000000000*/https://www.ycom...

They actually changed the URL structure This is the old URL, and they indeed mentioned Sam leaving https://web.archive.org/web/20190316222853/https://blog.ycom...

Ohhhh thanks.

Looking at those it looks like there was an edit:

> Updated on 6/12/20

> In May 2019, Geoff Ralston took over as YC President. At that time, Sam Altman stepped away from any formal position at YC.

https://web.archive.org/web/20201028062425/https://blog.ycom...

And then shortly after the edit disappeared too:

https://web.archive.org/web/20210423025128/https://blog.ycom...

Re: Before OpenAI, Sam Altman was fired from Y Combinator by his mentor

#600

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Doesn't this show a vested interest from pg and jessica in OpenAI? So it's hard for them to say anything negative.

As a matter of good policy they wouldn't publicly denounce anyone that was associated with YC.

simplest explanation is most likely the one nearest the truth
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