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We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO

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Re: We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO

#801

Post by sam0x17 »

jafitc wrote: post #760

OpenAI's Future and Viability - OpenAI has damaged their brand and lost trust, but may still become a hugely successful company if they build great products - OpenAI looks stronger now with a more professional board, but has fundamentally transformed into a for-profit focused on commercializing LLMs - OpenAI still retains impressive talent and technology assets and could pivot into a leading AI provider if managed we…

> Peer pressure and groupthink likely also swayed employees more than principles

Chilling to hear the corporate oligarchs completely disregard the feelings of employees and deny most of the legitimacy behind these feelings in such a short and sweeping statement

Re: We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO

#802

Post by bandrami »

flylib wrote: post #111

"A source with direct knowledge of the negotiations says that the sole job of this initial board is to vet and appoint a new formal board of up to 9 people that will reset the governance of OpenAl. Microsoft will likely have a seat on that expanded board, as will Altman himself." https://twitter.com/teddyschleifer/status/172721237871736880...

Wait, the CEO having a seat on the board is kind of not cool

Re: We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO

#803

Post by ensocode »

jafitc wrote: post #760

OpenAI's Future and Viability - OpenAI has damaged their brand and lost trust, but may still become a hugely successful company if they build great products - OpenAI looks stronger now with a more professional board, but has fundamentally transformed into a for-profit focused on commercializing LLMs - OpenAI still retains impressive talent and technology assets and could pivot into a leading AI provider if managed we…

Good points. Anyway I guess nobody will remember the drama in some months so I think the damage done is very manageable for OAI.

Re: We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO

#804

Post by mrfox321 »

paulddraper wrote: post #792
jafitc wrote: post #760

OpenAI's Future and Viability - OpenAI has damaged their brand and lost trust, but may still become a hugely successful company if they build great products - OpenAI looks stronger now with a more professional board, but has fundamentally transformed into a for-profit focused on commercializing LLMs - OpenAI still retains impressive talent and technology assets and could pivot into a leading AI provider if managed we…

> Peer pressure and groupthink likely also swayed employees more than principles What makes this "likely"? Or is this just pure conjecture?

What would you do if 999 employees openly signed a letter and you are the remaining holdout.

Re: We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO

#805

Post by jxi »

jafitc wrote: post #760

OpenAI's Future and Viability - OpenAI has damaged their brand and lost trust, but may still become a hugely successful company if they build great products - OpenAI looks stronger now with a more professional board, but has fundamentally transformed into a for-profit focused on commercializing LLMs - OpenAI still retains impressive talent and technology assets and could pivot into a leading AI provider if managed we…

Was this really motivated by AI safety or was it just Helen Toner’s personal vendetta against Sam?

It doesn’t feel like anything was accomplished besides wasting 700+ people’s time, and the only thing that has changed now is Helen Toner and Tasha McCauley are off the board.

Re: We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO

#806

Post by amalcon »

jafitc wrote: post #760

OpenAI's Future and Viability - OpenAI has damaged their brand and lost trust, but may still become a hugely successful company if they build great products - OpenAI looks stronger now with a more professional board, but has fundamentally transformed into a for-profit focused on commercializing LLMs - OpenAI still retains impressive talent and technology assets and could pivot into a leading AI provider if managed we…

>- Microsoft strengthened its power despite not appearing involved in the drama

Depending on what you mean by "the drama", Microsoft was very clearly involved. They don't appear to have been in the loop prior to Altman's firing, but they literally offered jobs to everyone who left in solidarity with same. Do we really think things like that were not intended to change people's minds?

Re: We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO

#808

Post by stikit »

garrison wrote: post #637

If OpenAI remains a 501(c)(3) charity, then any employee of Microsoft on the board will have a fiduciary duty to advance the mission of the charity, rather than the business needs of Microsoft. There are obvious conflicts of interest here. I don't expect the IRS to be a fan of this arrangement.

OpenAI is not a charity. Microsoft's investment is in OpenAI Global, LLC, a for-profit company.

From https://openai.com/our-structure

- First, the for-profit subsidiary is fully controlled by the OpenAI Nonprofit. We enacted this by having the Nonprofit wholly own and control a manager entity (OpenAI GP LLC) that has the power to control and govern the for-profit subsidiary.

-Second, because the board is still the board of a Nonprofit, each director must perform their fiduciary duties in furtherance of its mission—safe AGI that is broadly beneficial. While the for-profit subsidiary is permitted to make and distribute profit, it is subject to this mission. The Nonprofit’s principal beneficiary is humanity, not OpenAI investors.

-Third, the board remains majority independent. Independent directors do not hold equity in OpenAI. Even OpenAI’s CEO, Sam Altman, does not hold equity directly. His only interest is indirectly through a Y Combinator investment fund that made a small investment in OpenAI before he was full-time.

-Fourth, profit allocated to investors and employees, including Microsoft, is capped. All residual value created above and beyond the cap will be returned to the Nonprofit for the benefit of humanity.

-Fifth, the board determines when we've attained AGI. Again, by AGI we mean a highly autonomous system that outperforms humans at most economically valuable work. Such a system is excluded from IP licenses and other commercial terms with Microsoft, which only apply to pre-AGI technology.

Re: We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO

#809

Post by fatbird »

paulddraper wrote: post #799
garrison wrote: post #637

If OpenAI remains a 501(c)(3) charity, then any employee of Microsoft on the board will have a fiduciary duty to advance the mission of the charity, rather than the business needs of Microsoft. There are obvious conflicts of interest here. I don't expect the IRS to be a fan of this arrangement.

What if I told you...Bill Gates was/is on the board of the non-profit Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation? Lol HN lawyering is hilarious.

Indeed, it is hilarious.

The Foundation has nothing to do with MS and can't possibly be considered a competitor, acquisition target, supplier, or any other entity where a decision for the Foundation might materially harm MS (or the reverse). There's no potential conflict of interest between the missions of the two.

Did you think OP meant there was some inherent conflict of interest with charities?

Re: We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO

#810

Post by fatbird »

bandrami wrote: post #802
flylib wrote: post #111

"A source with direct knowledge of the negotiations says that the sole job of this initial board is to vet and appoint a new formal board of up to 9 people that will reset the governance of OpenAl. Microsoft will likely have a seat on that expanded board, as will Altman himself." https://twitter.com/teddyschleifer/status/172721237871736880...

Wait, the CEO having a seat on the board is kind of not cool

It's quite common, actually.
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