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Elon Musk pushes out more xAI founders as AI coding effort falters

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Re: Elon Musk pushes out more xAI founders as AI coding effort falters

#671

Post by svara »

jarrettcoggin wrote: post #653
pm90 wrote: post #448

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, it sounds like you're the kind of person that could easily find another job. Why slog it out until the end rather than quit/find a better gig? Genuinely interested because every time I've ended up with a manager like that my mental health has suffered so now I generally start planning my exit as soon as I'm stuck with a bad manager.

IMO, this is a good question and deserves a solid answer, so I’ll do my best. Setting aside the “fixer” for the time being, I really enjoyed the work I did at Tesla. Tesla was the first company that gave me very high levels of autonomy to just own projects and deliver. It also pushed me to take on projects that I had previously wanted to do that I hadn’t been given a chance to work on before. (Side note: At that poin…

Hey, thanks, that was quite interesting!

I'd be curious to hear your thoughts on how the "fixer", who sounds rather ineffective as an executive, came into this position, in what sounds like overall a rather effective organization.

I've been personally thinking quite a bit about what makes organizations work or not work recently, and your story is quite interesting to me as a glimpse into a kind of organization that I've never seen from the inside myself.

Re: Elon Musk pushes out more xAI founders as AI coding effort falters

#672

Post by iknowstuff »

mattbillenstein wrote: post #287
cladopa wrote: post #282

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You mean the 80% of the workforce that was fired and the company continued running just fine? Usually just firing 3 to 5% of any company workers have terrible consequences for the company that does it. It does not speak so well about the workers.

He also cut 80% of the traffic... And the fact that it kept running with him willy nilly pulling network cables is a credit to the work they did to make it resilient to failure.

Source on pre/post traffic numbers?

Re: Elon Musk pushes out more xAI founders as AI coding effort falters

#674

Post by ekianjo »

mjamesaustin wrote: post #469
Rover222 wrote: post #381

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How is Tesla falling apart? Cybertruck was a flop, but Model Y is still one of the best selling cars in the world, and very well reviewed.

To be considered successful, most companies need to sell more of their existing products and/or introduce new products. Tesla is doing neither – they have reduced the number of models they sell and are also selling their existing models in lower numbers.

Nintendo also has had major flops and that did not mean you had to discount them for good

Re: Elon Musk pushes out more xAI founders as AI coding effort falters

#675

Post by Nevermark »

hananova wrote: post #451
pm90 wrote: post #448

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Out of curiosity, it sounds like you're the kind of person that could easily find another job. Why slog it out until the end rather than quit/find a better gig? Genuinely interested because every time I've ended up with a manager like that my mental health has suffered so now I generally start planning my exit as soon as I'm stuck with a bad manager.

Ethically, if you do not agree with the company you work at, the optimal course of action if you can stomach it is to stay and do a bad job rather than get replaced by someone who might do a good job. I have been in such a situation before, and while I was not able to coast along until the company went under, the time delta between me getting fired and the company going under was measured in weeks. In hindsight I'd p…

As they say, two uneth’s make a thical.

I really wouldn’t want to be in this position. But it feels very motivating. It would sooth some difficult memories.

I can see myself putting in a lot of hours.

The willingness to be fired, in both good and bad situations, can be mentally freeing and an operational/political advantage. Many of us fail to push as hard as we optimally could, when we have too much on the line.

Re: Elon Musk pushes out more xAI founders as AI coding effort falters

#676

Post by ekianjo »

jarrettcoggin wrote: post #273
jazzpush2 wrote: post #249

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In an interview with xAI I was literally told that certain parts of the model have to align with Elon, and that Elon can call us and demand anything at anytime. No thanks!

From my time at Tesla, this is 100% the case. When Elon asked for something, it was “drop what you are doing and deliver it”, then you got pressed to still deliver the thing you were already working on against the original timeline before the interrupt.

This is not specific to Tesla. If the CEO wants something done in most companies you follow the CEO's order first and drop everything else.

Re: Elon Musk pushes out more xAI founders as AI coding effort falters

#677

Post by mlsu »

snackerblues wrote: post #518
enaaem wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem is you can undress real people and that is extremely harmful and dangerous. One kid took his life after an ai sextortian scam [1]. Imagine the damage cyberbullies, scammers and stalkers can do? [1] https://www.cbsnews.com/news/sextortion-generative-ai-scam-e...

Imagine how freeing it will be when people stop caring about this stuff because anyone can see anyone else naked in about 5 seconds. We're basically already at realistic hardcore porn videos of anyone fucking anyone else in a few minutes. No point in worrying about it, and it even serves as a shield for real leaked revenge porn - just claim it's AI.

This take is so bleak man.

It's creepy and uncomfortable when someone says out loud that they're imagining you doing sex acts!

Even if everyone knows that you're not actually doing sex acts and it's just some guy imagining it!

Now everyone has to see what these creeps are imagining, but it's fine because it's AI? Like actually are you out of your mind?

Re: Elon Musk pushes out more xAI founders as AI coding effort falters

#678

Post by yoavm »

sidcool wrote: post #645

The pleasure people get at seeing Elon's companies failing is astounding.

Is it really that surprising? He worked very hard at insulting gay, democrats, Trump supporters, Europeans, Jews, trans... you name it. He also contributed to turning the all political disagreements personal by endlessly making ad hominem attacks. You can't attack the whole world personally and then wonder why they're happy to see you losing power.

Re: Elon Musk pushes out more xAI founders as AI coding effort falters

#679

Post by eucyclos »

jedberg wrote: post #637
vjvjvjvjghv wrote: post #445

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think you are simplifying a little. Musk had the courage to go against the big manufacturers and build the charger network which at the same a lot of smart people would never work. Same with SpaceX. They did something most people thought could never work. I don't like Musk politically but that doesn't mean we can't acknowledge that he transformed 2 industries by sheer willpower and stubbornness.

> I don't like Musk politically but that doesn't mean we can't acknowledge that he transformed 2 industries by sheer willpower and stubbornness. If you talk to anyone who worked there, they will tell you that he had little to do with the innovation at any of his companies. His lieutenants and the people that worked for them had all the innovative ideas, and for the most part tried to either avoid Elon's ideas or conv…

But push them he did until the industry had to get on board. I think people underestimate the impact of a pro-change company culture, even if it does run on a cult of personality that is much less pleasant up close than in the occasional earnings call.

Re: Elon Musk pushes out more xAI founders as AI coding effort falters

#680

Post by dgxyz »

ahhhhnoooo wrote: post #579
billti wrote: post #468

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> the product is mediocre at best I'm not a Tesla fanboy, last year was the first time I bought one (new Model Y), but it is by far the best car I've ever owned, and the FSD blew my mind with how much better it was than I expected. My wife hates Elon, and has a new hybrid Mitsubishi, but she still drives my Model Y all the time because it's just so much better to drive. What are you basing the 'mediocre' opinion on?

I owned a Model S. It was a nightmare. Sealed poorly, fraying seams, the dashboard crashed regularly. I had a service center refuse to schedule a safety recall unless I paid $400 for a new dashboard monitor. That car is behind me now and I'm so glad. Yes, it could accelerate and that's just about the only trick it has.

Same experience here. Had a 2018 P100D. Absolutely the worst car I’ve ever had. Terribly put together. Awful interface. And so utterly fucking distracting it was a liability.

Got rid of it after it stomped the brakes on an empty road and had a battery issue that took weeks to fix.

I don’t own a car now and don’t want one. I’d probably buy a Polestar next time if I had to get one.

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