Hacker News Board Hacker News, browsed like a classic message board
Live data from Hacker News

Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

theverge.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

771–780 of 985 posts

Re: Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

#771

Post by fb03 »

iteratethis wrote: post #705

I wish we could all just admit that this is a capital run, rather than some moralistic crusade. The employees want to get their big payday, so will follow Altman wherever he goes. Which is the smart thing to do anyway as he runs half the valley. The public discourse in which Sam is the hero is further cemented by the tech ecosystem, which nowadays is circling around AI. Those in the "OpenAI wrapper" game. Nobody has…

This is such an honest and based take - a take not a lot of people are willing to put forward.

Can we please please stop this "for the good of mankind" thing?

Re: Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

#772

Post by dwighttk »

bartread wrote: post #757
iteratethis wrote: post #705

I wish we could all just admit that this is a capital run, rather than some moralistic crusade. The employees want to get their big payday, so will follow Altman wherever he goes. Which is the smart thing to do anyway as he runs half the valley. The public discourse in which Sam is the hero is further cemented by the tech ecosystem, which nowadays is circling around AI. Those in the "OpenAI wrapper" game. Nobody has…

> The employees want to get their big payday Many of them will have invested years of their life, during which they will have worked incredibly hard, and probably sacrificed life outside of work for their jobs in hopes of that payday to give them the freedom to do what they want to do next: you can hardly blame them. True riches isn't money, but discretionary time. Unfortunately that discretionary time often costs qu…

> Unfortunately that discretionary time often costs quite a lot of money to realise.

take a look at my cousin... he's broke and don't do shit

Re: Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

#773

Post by murakamiiq84 »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #614
hotnfresh wrote: post #493

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I guess I should rephrase that as if they did it because they perceived that Altman was maneuvering to be untouchable within the company and moving against the interests of the nonprofit, they did the right thing. Just, again, way too late because it seems he was already untouchable.

I question that framing of a growing Altman influence. Altman predates every other board member and was part of their selection. As an alternative faming, Maybe this is the best opportunity the cautious/antripic faction would ever get and a "moment of weakness" for the Altman faction. With the departure of Hoffman, Zilis, and Hurd, the current board was down 3 members, so the voting power of D’Angelo, Toner, McCauley…

Apparently Hoffman was kicked out by Sam, not just Musk: https://www.semafor.com/article/11/19/2023/reid-hoffman-was-...

Maybe the remaining board members could see the writing on the wall and wanted to save their own seats (or maybe he did move to coup them first and they jumped faster).

Either way, they got outplayed.

Re: Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

#774

Post by [deleted] »

m3kw9 wrote: post #683
imiric wrote: post #665

If anything has become clear after all this is that humanity is not ready for being the guardian of superintelligence. These are supposed to be the top masterminds behind one of the most influential technologies of our lifetime, and perhaps history, and yet they're all behaving like petty children, with egos and personal interests pulling in all directions, and everyone doing their best to secure their piece of the p…

Really? Why is that? Because of disputes which has been there since humans first uttered a sound?

[deleted]

Re: Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

#775

Post by [deleted] »

iteratethis wrote: post #705

I wish we could all just admit that this is a capital run, rather than some moralistic crusade. The employees want to get their big payday, so will follow Altman wherever he goes. Which is the smart thing to do anyway as he runs half the valley. The public discourse in which Sam is the hero is further cemented by the tech ecosystem, which nowadays is circling around AI. Those in the "OpenAI wrapper" game. Nobody has…

[deleted]

Re: Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

#776

Post by hotnfresh »

shimon wrote: post #662
hotnfresh wrote: post #581

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If it was to try to prevent the board becoming a useless vestigial organ incapable of meaningfully affecting the direction of the organization, it sure looks like they were right to be worried about that and acting on such concern wouldn’t be a mistake (doing it so late when the feared-state-of-things was already the actual state of things, yes, a mistake, except as a symbolic gesture). If it was for other reasons, y…

If you're going to make a symbolic gesture you don't cloak it in so much secrecy that nobody can even reasonably guess what you're trying to symbolize.

Yeah, I’d say they expected it to actually work. They misjudged just how far to the sidelines they’d already been pushed. The body nominally held all the power (any four of them voting together, that is) but in fact one member held that power.

Re: Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

#777

Post by simondotau »

paradite wrote: post #718
iteratethis wrote: post #705

I wish we could all just admit that this is a capital run, rather than some moralistic crusade. The employees want to get their big payday, so will follow Altman wherever he goes. Which is the smart thing to do anyway as he runs half the valley. The public discourse in which Sam is the hero is further cemented by the tech ecosystem, which nowadays is circling around AI. Those in the "OpenAI wrapper" game. Nobody has…

I wouldn't attribute to greed for something sufficiently explained by emotions and loyalty. Their CEO who was doing well as far as anyone can tell, was removed forcibly. It is natural to feel strongly about it.

I wouldn't attribute to emotions and loyalty that which is sufficiently explained by greed.

Re: Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

#778

Post by abi »

flagrant_taco wrote: post #747
abi wrote: post #723

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think if this was all rational self-interest, a lot of this would never have happened. It's precisely because OpenAI isn't governed by a board appointed by investors that we have such consequences.

Not sure that I quite follow. Are you arguing that we should ensure that boards are always aligned with the exact same financial motivations as the investors themselves for fear of a disagreement of direction, morals, etc?

It was a comment on the overall situation, and addressing the point that it's "greed all the way down". If OpenAI was a traditional C Corp, a highly successful CEO would not have been fired. It's precisely because OpenAI is governed by a non-profit board that they care about things other than profits.

Re: Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

#779

Post by [deleted] »

iteratethis wrote: post #705

I wish we could all just admit that this is a capital run, rather than some moralistic crusade. The employees want to get their big payday, so will follow Altman wherever he goes. Which is the smart thing to do anyway as he runs half the valley. The public discourse in which Sam is the hero is further cemented by the tech ecosystem, which nowadays is circling around AI. Those in the "OpenAI wrapper" game. Nobody has…

[deleted]

Re: Sam Altman is still trying to return as OpenAI CEO

#780

Post by reverse_no »

iteratethis wrote: post #705

I wish we could all just admit that this is a capital run, rather than some moralistic crusade. The employees want to get their big payday, so will follow Altman wherever he goes. Which is the smart thing to do anyway as he runs half the valley. The public discourse in which Sam is the hero is further cemented by the tech ecosystem, which nowadays is circling around AI. Those in the "OpenAI wrapper" game. Nobody has…

[flagged]
Post reply on HN