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

washingtonpost.com

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

#641

Post by vikramkr »

jacquesm wrote: post #636
vikramkr wrote: post #281

At least one of the arguments against him, that he cared too much about openai to lead Microsoft effectively, probably helps him more than it hurts. Otherwise, idk how much of this was really about Sam altman as much as it was a staggeringly incompetent board that drove employees and investors to unify and protest en masse to save the organisation from itself. I guess there's a chance there's an AGI in the basement b…

I think you meant YC rather than Microsoft.

Yep I did good catch, can't edit it now tho

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

#642

Post by [deleted] »

Merrill wrote: post #25

Based on the article and the loyalty shown by openai employees, he appears to be the "difficult to manage" type, rather than the "difficult to work for" type. That's not necessarily a bad thing in employees. I was once told that it is easier to round off the corners of a cube than to develop corners on a sphere.

[deleted]

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

#643

Post by prawn »

hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #456
ketzo wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

…you think calling someone “the best in the world” is a) purely factual b) not supportive Uh, what on earth would count as explicitly supportive language?

Did you miss the context of the image in that tweet? It's the famous "I have a particular set of skills..." speech from Taken: https://youtu.be/jZOywn1qArI In other words, he's basically saying Sam is the best in the world at being a ruthless mofo in these situations and obliterating those who oppose him. "Admiring language", perhaps, but I wouldn't really call that "supportive language".

One can quickly see that an individual ideal for a ruthless frontier with competing behemoths might be less perfect for a slightly more encouraging and nurturing incubator.

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

#644

Post by miiiiiike »

greatNespresso wrote: post #270

It came as a surprise for me to learn that PG fired Sam. It's the first time that I read this actually, and if that's true, I find it kind of mysterious that it remained a secret for so long. Or maybe I missed the news somehow but I could not find any other mention of that event on Google.

Sometimes you have to fire people you like. It doesn't have to be a relationship shattering event.

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

#645

Post by gregwebs »

TLDR there's a claim that Altman was among other things distracted by OpenAI by the end of his tenure at YC and PG flew back to SF to deal with the situation. It's possible that PG didn't fire him but instead continued to play the role of mentor and told him things weren't going as well as they had before and that his advise was to choose between OpenAI and YC.

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

#646

Post by goodluckchuck »

QuadrupleA wrote: post #376

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…

> "No one in the world is better than Sam at dealing with this kind of situation."

Wow, not the kind of compliment I’d want to receive.

This situation is rotten with conspiracy, backstabbing, money-grabs, rumor, innuendo, etc.

This(?!) is what Sam is so great at?

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

#647

Post by Rastonbury »

fevangelou wrote: post #96

It's oh so weird the article does not mention any of these though... - https://twitter.com/phuckfilosophy/status/163570439893983232... (SA's sister - also have a look at her recent posts) - Also: https://www.lesswrong.com/posts/QDczBduZorG4dxZiW/sam-altman... (utterly distressing) - https://twitter.com/elonmusk/status/1727096607752282485 (check the comment with snapshots of the letter - "strangely" that Gist was dele…

WaPo is a decent outlet, which means they would verify through multiple sources before posting something that could smear someone. They very likely know about it but if the story is not corroborated by anyone else or public records, the writers/editors would never publish

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

#648

Post by previnder »

doktrin wrote: post #591
nottorp wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> 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. Lik…

I would, however, add that just because most people are bad at estimating others doesn't mean that everyone is equally bad. There may be some people who are incredibly good at seeing where others are coming from and what their true intentions are. But, of course, everyone's probably overestimating their own capacity to estimate others.

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

#649

Post by murakamiiq84 »

inglor_cz wrote: post #571
koolba wrote: post #552

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> PG removed Sam Altman silently without harming his future. When police departments do that to overly aggressive cops, it’s generally considered a bad thing.

That is an astonishingly bad analogy. Believing that a person is not a good match for a certain business position is worlds apart from a public servant intentionally abusing his legally sanctioned monopoly on violence. The first kind of person may be well a good match for another position, in another company; the latter is just a criminal in uniform.

Right, it depends on the details of his firing, like was it more about Altman being spread too thin or if it was more about ethics.

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

#650

Post by murakamiiq84 »

prawn wrote: post #643
hn_throwaway_99 wrote: post #456

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you miss the context of the image in that tweet? It's the famous "I have a particular set of skills..." speech from Taken: https://youtu.be/jZOywn1qArI In other words, he's basically saying Sam is the best in the world at being a ruthless mofo in these situations and obliterating those who oppose him. "Admiring language", perhaps, but I wouldn't really call that "supportive language".

One can quickly see that an individual ideal for a ruthless frontier with competing behemoths might be less perfect for a slightly more encouraging and nurturing incubator.

And also how a board of academics + Adam + Ilya of a nonprofit ostensibly optimizing for "humanity" might not consider someone like that the best fit for representing the nonprofit, especially if he was gaslighting them and treating them like NPCs.
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