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OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns

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Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns

#621

Post by Emma_Goldman »

I don't really understanding why the workforce is swinging unambiguously behind Altman. The core of the narrative thus far is that the board fired Altman on the grounds that he was prioritising commercialisation over the not-for-profit mission of OpenAI written into the organisation's charter.[1] Given that Sam has since joined Microsoft, that seems plausible, on its face.

The board may have been incompetent and shortsighted. Perhaps they should even try and bring Altman back, and reform themselves out of existence. But why would the vast majority of the workforce back an open letter failing to signal where they stand on the crucial issue - on the purpose of OpenAI and their collective work? Given the stakes which the AI community likes to claim are at issue in the development of AGI, that strikes me as strange and concerning.

[1] https://openai.com/charter

Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns

#622

Post by PepperdineG »

ssnistfajen wrote: post #610
rtkwe wrote: post #481

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That's the biggest question mark for me; what was the original reason for kicking Sam out. Was it just a power move to out him and install a different person or is he accused of some wrong doing? It's been a busy weekend for me so I haven't really followed it if more has come out since then.

Literally no one involved has said what was the original reason. Mira, Ilya & the rest of the board didn't tell. Sam & Greg didn't tell. Satya & other investors didn't tell. None of the staff incl. Karpathy were told, so ofc they are not going to take the side that kept them in the dark). Emmett was told before he decided to take the interim CEO job, and STILL didn't tell what it was. This whole thing is just so weir…

The original reason given was "lack of candor," just what continues to be questioned is whether or not that was the true reason. The lack of candor comment about their ex-CEO is actually what drew me into this in the first place since it's rare that a major organization publicly gives a reason for parting ways with their CEO unless it's after a long investigation conducted by an outside law firm into alleged misconduct.

Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns

#623

Post by brigadier132 »

_cenw wrote: post #600
brigadier132 wrote: post #545

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Amazing how you don't see this as a complete win for workers because the workers chose profit over non-profit. This is the ultimate collective bargaining win. Labor chose Microsoft over the bullshit unaccountable ethics major and the movie star's girlfriend.

situations are capable of being small scale wins for some and big picture losses at the same time, what boring commentary

Just because you don't get it doesn't mean it's boring. This is a small scale repeat of history. Unqualified political appointees unsurprisingly suck.

Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns

#624

Post by bnralt »

vel0city wrote: post #615
bnralt wrote: post #510

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Now the cat is out of the bag, and people no longer believe that a non-profit who can act at will is a trusted vehicle for the future. And maybe it’s not. The big mistake people make is hearing non-profit and think it means there’s a greater amount of morality. It’s the same mistake as assuming everyone who is religious is therefore more moral (worth pointing out that religions are nonprofits as well). Most hospita…

> Most hospitals are nonprofits, yet they still make substantial profits and overcharge customers. They don't make large profits otherwise they wouldn't be nonprofits. They do have massive revenues and will find ways to spend the money they receive or hoard it internally as much as they can. There are lots of games they can play with the money, but experiencing profits is one thing they can't do.

> They don't make large profits otherwise they wouldn't be nonprofits.

This is a common misunderstanding. Non-profits/501(c)(3) can and often do make profits. 7 of the 10 most profitable hospitals in the U.S. are non-profits[1]. Non-profits can't funnel profits directly back to owners, the way other corporations can (such as when dividends are distributed). But they still make profits.

But that's besides the point. Even in places that don't make profits, there are still plenty of personal interests at play.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/20/opinion/nonprofit-hospita...

Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns

#625

Post by lawlessone »

strikelaserclaw wrote: post #605
lawlessone wrote: post #471

Have seen a lot of criticism of Sam and of other CEO's But I don't think I have seen/heard of a CEO this loved by the employees. Whatever he is, he must be pleasant to work with.

Its not love, its money. Sam will brings all the employees lots of money (through commercialization) and this change threatens to disrupt that plan for the employees.

Ok but even that is good when most companies are making record profits and telling their employees they can't afford their 0.000001% raise.

Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns

#626

Post by LonelyWolfe »

breadwinner wrote: post #51

If they join Sam Altman and Greg Brockman at Microsoft they will not need to start from scratch because Microsoft has full rights [1] to ChatGPT IP. They can just fork ChatGPT. Also keep in mind that Microsoft hasn't actually given OpenAI $13 Billion because much of that is in the form of Azure credits. So this could end up being the cheapest acquisition for Microsoft: They get a $90 Billion company for peanuts. [1]…

Just a thought.... Wouldn't one of the board members be like "If you screw with us any further we're releasing gpt to the public"

I'm wondering why that option hasn't been used yet.

Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns

#627

Post by jagraff »

hotsauceror wrote: post #344
leroy_masochist wrote: post #296

Can we have a quick moment of silence for Matt Levine? Between Friday afternoon and right now, he has probably had to rewrite today's Money Stuff column at least 5 or 6 times.

Didn't he say that he was taking Friday off, last week? The day before his bete noire Elon Musk got into another brouhaha and OpenAI blew up? I think he said once that there's an ETF that trades on when he takes vacations, because they keep coinciding with Events Of Note.

He takes every Friday off

Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns

#628

Post by somenameforme »

mupuff1234 wrote: post #477
breadwinner wrote: post #51

If they join Sam Altman and Greg Brockman at Microsoft they will not need to start from scratch because Microsoft has full rights [1] to ChatGPT IP. They can just fork ChatGPT. Also keep in mind that Microsoft hasn't actually given OpenAI $13 Billion because much of that is in the form of Azure credits. So this could end up being the cheapest acquisition for Microsoft: They get a $90 Billion company for peanuts. [1]…

Can the OpenAI board renege on the deal with msft?

A contractual mistake one makes only once is ensuring there's penalties for breach, or a breach would entail a clear monetary loss which is what's generally required by the courts. In this case I expect Microsoft would almost certainly have both, so I think the answer is 'no.'

Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns

#629

Post by efdee »

hospitalJail wrote: post #413
tarruda wrote: post #246

The whole thing starts to look like a coup orchestrated by Microsoft

A few weeks ago my 4yr old Minecraft gamer was playing pretend and said "I'm fighting the biggest boss. THE MICROSOFT BOSS!" Yeah M$ hasnt had a good reputation. I finally left Windows this year because I'm afraid of them after Win11. 2023/4 will be the year of the Linux Desktop in retrospect. (or at least my family's religion deemed it)

You'd do yourself a favor by not referring to them as "M$". It taints your entire message, true or not.
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