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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

#81

Post by minimaxir »

mycologos wrote: post #69
gkoberger wrote: post #24

I'd bet money Satya was a driver of this reversal. I genuinely can't believe the board didn't see this coming. I think they could have won in the court of public opinion if their press release said they loved Sam but felt like his skills and ambitions diverged from their mission. But instead, they tried to skewer him, and it backfired completely. I hope Sam comes back. He'll make a lot more money if he doesn't, but I…

> I think they could have won in the court of public opinion ... [but] they tried to skewer him, and it backfired completely Maybe we have different definitions of "the court of public opinion". Most people don't know who Sam Altman is, and most of the people who do know don't have strong opinions on his performance as OpenAI's CEO. Even on HN, the reaction to the board "skwer[ing] him" has been pretty mixed, and mos…

You underestimate how many people are aware of OpenAI after ChatGPT's viral success.

The news yesterday broke the tech/AI bubble, and there would have been much more press on it if it wasn't done as a Friday news dump.

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

#82

Post by tfehring »

Jensson wrote: post #52
gkoberger wrote: post #24

I'd bet money Satya was a driver of this reversal. I genuinely can't believe the board didn't see this coming. I think they could have won in the court of public opinion if their press release said they loved Sam but felt like his skills and ambitions diverged from their mission. But instead, they tried to skewer him, and it backfired completely. I hope Sam comes back. He'll make a lot more money if he doesn't, but I…

> I hope Sam comes back Why? We would have more diversity in this space if he leaves, which would get us another AI startup with huge funding and know how from OpenAI, while OpenAI would become less Sam Altman like. I think him staying is bad for the field overall compared to OpenAI splitting in two.

My main concern is that a new Altman-led AI company would be less safety-focused than OpenAI. I think him returning to OpenAI would be better for AI safety, hard to say whether it would be better for AI progress though.

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

#84

Post by cmrdporcupine »

himaraya wrote: post #68
Handy-Man wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At least the 3 independent members will be gone. Either will try to burry the hatchet with Ilya or he leaves as well.

Hard to see Ilya staying if Sam returns, honestly.

I'm sure he'll be fine, and well compensated and able to do what he wants elsewhere.

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

#86

Post by x0x0 »

gkoberger wrote: post #24

I'd bet money Satya was a driver of this reversal. I genuinely can't believe the board didn't see this coming. I think they could have won in the court of public opinion if their press release said they loved Sam but felt like his skills and ambitions diverged from their mission. But instead, they tried to skewer him, and it backfired completely. I hope Sam comes back. He'll make a lot more money if he doesn't, but I…

1 - not running a move like this by the company that invested a reported $10 billion dollars;

2 - clearly not having spent even 10 seconds thinking about the (obvious) reaction of employees on learning the ceo of what seems like a generational company was fired out of the blue. Or the reaction to the (high likelihood) of a cofounder following him out the door

3 - And they didn't even carefully think through the reaction to the press release which hinted at some real wrongdoing by Altman.

3a - anyone want to bet if they even workshopped the press release with attorneys or just straight yolo'd it? No chance a thing like this could end up in court...

They've def got the A team running things... my god.

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

#88

Post by Luc »

When this started I was reminded of old Matt Levine articles about who really controls a company. There were some amusing examples.

The board can sack a CEO but if they keep their influence over employees, customers and shareholders... what's the board going to do?

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

#89

Post by kmlevitt »

mycologos wrote: post #69
gkoberger wrote: post #24

I'd bet money Satya was a driver of this reversal. I genuinely can't believe the board didn't see this coming. I think they could have won in the court of public opinion if their press release said they loved Sam but felt like his skills and ambitions diverged from their mission. But instead, they tried to skewer him, and it backfired completely. I hope Sam comes back. He'll make a lot more money if he doesn't, but I…

> I think they could have won in the court of public opinion ... [but] they tried to skewer him, and it backfired completely Maybe we have different definitions of "the court of public opinion". Most people don't know who Sam Altman is, and most of the people who do know don't have strong opinions on his performance as OpenAI's CEO. Even on HN, the reaction to the board "skwer[ing] him" has been pretty mixed, and mos…

What matters is what investors think, and by majority they seem very unhappy with all of this.

Speaking for myself, if they had framed this as a difference in vision, I would be willing to listen. But instead they implied that he had committed some kind of categorical wrongdoing. After it became clear that wasn’t the case, it just made them look incompetent.

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

#90

Post by gkoberger »

mycologos wrote: post #69
gkoberger wrote: post #24

I'd bet money Satya was a driver of this reversal. I genuinely can't believe the board didn't see this coming. I think they could have won in the court of public opinion if their press release said they loved Sam but felt like his skills and ambitions diverged from their mission. But instead, they tried to skewer him, and it backfired completely. I hope Sam comes back. He'll make a lot more money if he doesn't, but I…

> I think they could have won in the court of public opinion ... [but] they tried to skewer him, and it backfired completely Maybe we have different definitions of "the court of public opinion". Most people don't know who Sam Altman is, and most of the people who do know don't have strong opinions on his performance as OpenAI's CEO. Even on HN, the reaction to the board "skwer[ing] him" has been pretty mixed, and mos…

I mean, they're (allegedly) trying to get him to come back 24 hours later... so it's safe to say it did indeed backfire completely.

Sure, the average person doesn't care about Sam. But among the people who matter, Sam certainly came out on top.

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