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OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

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Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#601

Post by hfjjbf »

adharmad wrote: post #361
crop_rotation wrote: post #60

The board seems truly incompetent here and looking at the member list it doesn't seem very surprising. A competent board should have asked for legal and professional advice before taking a drastic step like this. Instead the board thought it was a boxing match and tried to deliver a knockout punch before the market closes with blunt language. This might be the most incompetent board for an organisation of this size.

It was complete amateur hour for the board. But that aside, how did so many clueless folks who understand neither the technology, or the legalese, nor have enough intelligence/acumen to forsee the immediate impact of their actions happen to be on the board of one of the most important tech companies?

[dead]

Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#602

Post by I_am_tiberius »

cedws wrote: post #586
shrimpx wrote: post #574

Ilya should split off from Altman/Brockman no matter where this lands. I sense an uncrossable chasm between these guys. Anyway I’m with Sutskever, the guy who builds models. Charismatic salesmen are a dime a dozen.

Charismatic salesmen get the money needed to build the models. Computer scientists are a dime a dozen, universities churn them out every year.

In this case, it seems that computer scientists are serious about saving humanity, while salespeople just act as if they are doing so publicly.

Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#603

Post by naveen99 »

shrimpx wrote: post #574

Ilya should split off from Altman/Brockman no matter where this lands. I sense an uncrossable chasm between these guys. Anyway I’m with Sutskever, the guy who builds models. Charismatic salesmen are a dime a dozen.

but he wants to jail the model he builds. As Sam says, he should think more about what he actually wants to do, and then do it. Not go in 2 opposite directions at the same time.

Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#604

Post by wwtrv »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #151
skygazer wrote: post #26

Man, the board already looked reckless and incompetent, but this solidifies the appearance. You can do crazy ill-advised things, but if you unwaveringly commit, we’ll always wonder if you’re secretly a genius. But when you immediately backtrack, we’ll know you were a fool all along.

Dude, everyone already thinks the board did a crazy ill-advised thing. They're about to be the board of like a 5 person or so company if they double down and commit. To be honest I hate takes like yours, where people think that acknowledging a mistake (even a giant mistake) is a sign of weakness. A bigger sign of weakness in my opinion is people who commit to a shitty idea just because they said it first, despite all…

> is a sign of weakness

It's often a sign of incompetence though. Or rather a confirmation of it.

Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#605

Post by silenced_trope »

shrimpx wrote: post #574

Ilya should split off from Altman/Brockman no matter where this lands. I sense an uncrossable chasm between these guys. Anyway I’m with Sutskever, the guy who builds models. Charismatic salesmen are a dime a dozen.

I'm not so sure.

Ilya was apparently instrumental in this, and he didn't have to pursue this?

It didn't have to be a "you're with me or you're with them!"

Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#606

Post by jprete »

leoh wrote: post #589
adharmad wrote: post #361

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It was complete amateur hour for the board. But that aside, how did so many clueless folks who understand neither the technology, or the legalese, nor have enough intelligence/acumen to forsee the immediate impact of their actions happen to be on the board of one of the most important tech companies?

Not many and even fewer if you consider folks that have a good grasp of themselves, their psychology, their emotions — and how they can mislead them, and their heart. IME most folks at Anthropic, OpenAI or whatever that are freaking out about things never defined the problem well and typically were engaging with highly theoretical models as opposed to the real capabilities of a well-defined, accomplished (or clearly…

Is this a way of saying that AI safety is unnecessary?

Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#607

Post by PheonixPharts »

shrimpx wrote: post #574

Ilya should split off from Altman/Brockman no matter where this lands. I sense an uncrossable chasm between these guys. Anyway I’m with Sutskever, the guy who builds models. Charismatic salesmen are a dime a dozen.

Over the years "tech" has been less and less about making things and more and more about making your investors money. Technical talented used to be extremely important in this industry, but it's slowly been being worn away over the years.

I still like working in this industry because you can still find interesting problems to solve if you hunt for them, but they're getting harder to find and it increasingly seems like making good technical decisions is penalized.

It's sad to see even on HN how many comments are so dismissive of technical skills and ambitions, though I guess we've had more than a generation of engineers join the field because it was the easiest way to make the most money.

For a brief moment on Friday I thought "maybe I'm too cynical! Maybe there still are places where tech actually matters."

Not surprised it looks like that hope will be inverted almost immediately. I also suspect the takeaway from this will be the final nail in the coffin for any future debates between engineering and people who are only interested in next quarters revenue numbers.

Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#608

Post by seanoliver »

shmatt wrote: post #598

This makes no sense. People are calling what the board did a coup, but Altman is trying (failing?) to stage a coup. The board was Altmans boss - this is pretty much their only job. Altman knew this and most likely ignored any questions or concerns of theirs thinking he is the unfireable superstar Imagine if your boss fired you - and your response was - I’ll come back if you quit! Yeah, no. People might confuse status…

I don't see how Sam can return if the board doesn't resign. It's either them or him at this point.

Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#609

Post by hfjjbf »

skygazer wrote: post #552
yathaid wrote: post #531

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>> A competent board should have asked for legal and professional advice... I will bite. How do you know they didn't?

Typically it would be framed amicably, without so much axe-grinding, particularly for public release. Even ChatGPT itself would have written a more balanced release, and advised against such shenanigans. I enjoy that irony.

[dead]

Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#610

Post by sigmar »

shmatt wrote: post #598

This makes no sense. People are calling what the board did a coup, but Altman is trying (failing?) to stage a coup. The board was Altmans boss - this is pretty much their only job. Altman knew this and most likely ignored any questions or concerns of theirs thinking he is the unfireable superstar Imagine if your boss fired you - and your response was - I’ll come back if you quit! Yeah, no. People might confuse status…

>People are calling what the board did a coup, but Altman is trying (failing?) to stage a coup.

The board removed the board's chairman and fired the CEO. That's why it was called a coup.

>The shareholders can fire the board, but that’s not what he’s asking for. And so far we haven’t heard anything about them getting fired

nonprofits don't have shareholders (or shares).

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