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OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

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Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#791

Post by wesleywt »

no_wizard wrote: post #382
woeirua wrote: post #319

If the reports are true, and Ilya led the coup, then either him or Sam can be at OpenAI going forward but not both. The rest of the board members who sided with him are gone either way. Regardless of who ends up at the helm, OpenAI is going to be a different place on Monday than it was on Thursday, and not for the better.

Not for the better why? Obviously Sam wasn’t the best fit for OpenAI and investors aren’t even saying what the problem is. Clearly the board feels he was the wrong person for the job. I think it’s ridiculous that everything thinks that Sam being outed means OpenAI is in trouble. Let this play out and see how it evolves

Why did the board fire Sam in such a weird way? It shows that they are the wrong people for the job. If they wanted to get rid of him they should have done a better job than alienating everyone at the company.

Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#792

Post by okdood64 »

woeirua wrote: post #667
meetpateltech wrote: post #568

Update on the OpenAI drama: Altman and the board had till 5pm to reach a truce where the board would resign and he and Brockman would return. The deadline has passed and mass resignations expected if a deal isn’t reached ASAP https://twitter.com/alexeheath/status/1726055095341875545

There is no scenario here where Sam returns and OpenAI survives as a nonprofit. The board will be sacked.

> The board will be sacked.

How does sacking a board work in practice?

Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#794

Post by throwaway69123 »

slowhadoken wrote: post #752
meetpateltech wrote: post #568

Update on the OpenAI drama: Altman and the board had till 5pm to reach a truce where the board would resign and he and Brockman would return. The deadline has passed and mass resignations expected if a deal isn’t reached ASAP https://twitter.com/alexeheath/status/1726055095341875545

Has anyone else notice how many techies are on Twitter but still badmouth Twitter?

The bad mothers are a vocal minority

Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#795

Post by dragonwriter »

okdood64 wrote: post #792
woeirua wrote: post #667

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There is no scenario here where Sam returns and OpenAI survives as a nonprofit. The board will be sacked.

> The board will be sacked. How does sacking a board work in practice?

> How does sacking a board work in practice?

For a nonprofit board, the closest thing is something "the members of the board agree to resign after providing for named replacements". Individual members of the board can be sacked by a quorum of the board, but the board collectively can't be sacked.

EDIT: Correction:

Actually, nonprofits can have a variety of structures defining who the members are that are ultimately in charge. There must be a board, and there may be voting members to whom the board is accountable. The members, however, defined, generally can vote and replace boards members, and so could sack the board.

OTOH, I can't find any information about OpenAI having voting members beyond the board to whom they are accountable.

Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#796

Post by kijin »

jaredklewis wrote: post #746
shmatt wrote: post #598

This makes no sense. People are calling what the board did a coup, but Altman is trying (failing?) to stage a coup. The board was Altmans boss - this is pretty much their only job. Altman knew this and most likely ignored any questions or concerns of theirs thinking he is the unfireable superstar Imagine if your boss fired you - and your response was - I’ll come back if you quit! Yeah, no. People might confuse status…

In a coup, a leader with the support of the people is ousted by force. If we believe the reports that there will be mass resignations, that seems to indicate the founders enjoy the “support of the people.” Of course you can protest, “but in this country the constitution says that the generals can sack the president anytime they deem it necessary, so not a coup.” Yes, but it’s just a metaphor, so no one expects it to…

> In a coup, a leader with the support of the people is ousted by force.

Not necessarily. An unpopular leader can be even easier to overthrow, because the faction planning the coup has a higher chance of gaining popular support afterward. Or at least they can expect less resistance.

Of course, in reality, political and/or military leaders are often woefully bad at estimating how many people actually support them.

Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#797

Post by okdood64 »

karmasimida wrote: post #221
minimaxir wrote: post #34

This saga is somehow more absurd than HBO's Silicon Valley.

Because that show is written by people who barely knew Silicon Valley. If you read those memoirs/history of those Silicon Valley companies, it is 100% more entertaining than the show itself

> If you read those memoirs/history of those Silicon Valley companies

Can you give a few recommendations?

Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#798

Post by Davidzheng »

gizmo wrote: post #241
abi wrote: post #190

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How are they leveraging them? My understanding is Microsoft has no power over the board.

They who control the gpus control the universe. There is a great chip shortage. If MS breaks the lease agreement with OpenAI (based on some pretext about governance) OpenAI won't be able to do any work nor will they be able to serve customer requests for the next year while they litigate this in court. Microsoft holds all the cards because they own the data centers.

If that's true why did they even fund openai. Why not just beat them at making LLMs

Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#799

Post by kijin »

spoonyvoid7 wrote: post #638
shmatt wrote: post #598

This makes no sense. People are calling what the board did a coup, but Altman is trying (failing?) to stage a coup. The board was Altmans boss - this is pretty much their only job. Altman knew this and most likely ignored any questions or concerns of theirs thinking he is the unfireable superstar Imagine if your boss fired you - and your response was - I’ll come back if you quit! Yeah, no. People might confuse status…

> Imagine if your boss fired you - and your response was - I’ll come back if you quit! Yeah, no. People might confuse status with those of actual ceo shareholders like zuck, bezos, or musk. But Altman is just another employee Think you're missing the big picture here. Sam Altman isn't an "easily replaceable employee" especially given his fundraising skills.

Brilliant as sama is, a star fundraiser is more replaceable than a top engineer.

One can imagine Microsoft, for example, swooping in and acquiring a larger share of the for-profit entity (and an actual seat on the board, dammit) for more billions, eliminating the need for any fundraising for the foreseeable future.

If a lot of top engieers follow sama out, now that's a real problem.

Re: OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO

#800

Post by shrimpx »

silenced_trope wrote: post #605
shrimpx wrote: post #574

Ilya should split off from Altman/Brockman no matter where this lands. I sense an uncrossable chasm between these guys. Anyway I’m with Sutskever, the guy who builds models. Charismatic salesmen are a dime a dozen.

I'm not so sure. Ilya was apparently instrumental in this, and he didn't have to pursue this? It didn't have to be a "you're with me or you're with them!"

You're right, the handling of it was brutal.
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