Nice move to effectively turn it into positive "one more thing" news from ignite PoV.
Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft
621–630 of 1001 posts
Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft
#622Can someone help me understand what Sam's actual value is? He doesn't seem to be a particularly important practitioner/researcher re: AI and is "just" a CEO/salesman-evangelist to get funding, which Microsoft doesn't need? Is he particularly apt at leading/managing research teams? OpenAI's slow productization doesn't imply he's a product/idea guy a la Jobs.
Hiring famous well known big names of the industry (even if they're useless and will just coast for crazy money) sends a strong signal to investors and will most likely boost MSFT stock price during this ongoing AI bubble. And once the AI bubble pops as everyone learns AGI indeed NOT 'around the corner' , Microsoft will silently let him go with a golden parachute in the 8 figure ballpark. At least that's what I learn…
These things just show over and over again how irrational the "market" behaves. Most of all it's a big hype train and you better be lucky on the time to hop on or off.
If you are the lucky CEO of a company during the phase of success, investors will associate you with success. It's just easier to identify than understanding what the company does in detail and why it is successful or will/won't be in the future.
Good for Sam.
Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft
#623Earlier quoted context omitted.
if hot shot startup folks don't want to work there, why would they even go there? If you're flat broke, you need a job; they're not flat broke, they don't need a job. The deal at MS is worth it, or it's not, it's not something they need to decide over the course of a weekend... unless it's what they were already not being candid about.
It is the only way they can continue the work they have already contributed at OpenAI. Otherwise, it would mean they spend months or up to a year training their own model which in this arms race isn't feasible with viable competitors like Anthropic closing the gap quickly. This was the only way forward. I'm sure Sam Altman + Greg were offered an incredibly lucrative deal and autonomy.
it's been 2 days, they haven't even heard all the possible offers. Microsoft hasn't offered anybody autonomy since billg granted it to himself. Even Myhyrvold never did anything autonomous till he resigned and wrote a cookbook. The closest thing to autonomous in Microsoft was neilk breathing enough new life into 16bit Windows to get them to abandon OS/2
Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft
#624Looks like Sam Altman never gave a shit about the Non profit aspect of Open AI. It wasn't about building a safer future. He just wants what every other SV bro wants, which is clout and success and money.
I'm not saying business is the wrong move, I'm not saying a non-profit is the right move either. I'm also not saying Sam Altman and Co are not skilled at building AI. I'm not even saying Sam Altman won't do good for the world.
What I'm saying is that this move here shows he's just dishonest. Which isn't bad. He's not some do-gooder out to build safer AI, (which is what he portrayed himself as) he's a normal person out to make a name for himself.
Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft
#625Have 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…
However it's a nice way to deal with the whole "open" AI issue: first you create a non-profit to create open AI systems; then when you hit a marketable success it turns into a "capped profit"; and finally, all the people from that capped profit leave en masse and transfer their acquired know how to a for-profit company.
Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft
#626Have 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.
> Doubt many brilliant researchers would want to be Employee number 945728123 of Microsoft when the market is theirs at this moment.
Yeah, it's not like Microsoft has one of the most renowned industry research groups or something like that: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Research
Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft
#627GPT 6 Vista edition.
Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft
#628So essentially a promotion at Microsoft to create an AI division, the real OpenAI, Sam and Greg have been tasked to create another DeepMind / OpenAI inside of Microsoft. Might as well have acquired OpenAI in the first place given that it was 49% owned by Microsoft anyway but taken over by a coup. Now we'll see if the employees who are quitting will follow Sam and Greg. Google is still at risk without Gemini being rel…
No offense, but please consider getting off Twitter.
Read about their structure. Msft doesn't own anything. They are an investor. This is different, in thus case.
The non profit owns the for profit. Msft has 49 percent of the for profit. Sunset clause after profit benchmarks. Ownership returns 100 percent to non profit.
Stop getting meme'd on by the crowd. That goes to the 90 plus percent of other commenter's spreading misinformation on hn.
Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft
#629>> We remain committed to our partnership with OpenAI and have confidence in our product roadmap
They've invested over $10bn in this affair, even for MS it's massive - a clearer, more reassuring message would've helped, than "we remain committed..."
Re: Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and others to join Microsoft
#630I don't buy it. If you listen to Sam and Greg, they want to change the world and bring us into a world of abundance that everyone can participate in. They were the ideators of this "awkward non-profit owning a for-profit company". Microsoft is setup to create shareholder value. That's it. Both of them will eventually find it moot to advance tech so a few folks get richer.
sam wants to change the world by increasing the amount of transferable money that goes directly into his pocket using the most efficient means possible