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

OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns

wired.com

Post reply on HN
Print view View original

821–830 of 1001 posts

Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns

#821

Post by dkjaudyeqooe »

bredren wrote: post #760
JeremyNT wrote: post #464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no way to read any of this other than that the entire operation is a clown show. All respect to the engineers and their technical abilities, but this organization has demonstrated such a level of dysfunction that there can't be any path back for it. Say MS gets what it wants out of this move, what purpose is there in keeping OpenAI around? Wouldn't they be better off just hiring everybody? Is it just some kin…

There's a path back from this disfunction but my sense before this new twist was that the drama had severely impacted OpenAI as an industry leader. The product and talent positioning seemed ahead by years only to get destroyed by unforced errors. This instability can only mean the industry as a whole will move forward faster. Competitors see the weakness and will push harder. OpenAI will have a harder time keeping se…

> This instability can only mean the industry as a whole will move forward faster.

The hype surrounding OpenAI and the black hole of credibility it created was a problem, it's only positive that it's taken down several notches. Better now than when they have even more (undeserved) influence.

Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns

#822

Post by davesque »

boh wrote: post #312

There can exist an inherent delusion within elements of a company, that if left unchallenged, can persist. An agreement for instance, can seem airtight because it's never challenged, but falls apart in court. The OpenAI fallacy was that non-profit principals were guiding the success of the firm, and when the board decided to test that theory, it broke the whole delusion. Had it not fully challenged Altman, the board…

Calling it a delusion seems too provocative. Another way to say it is that principles take agreement and trust to follow. The board seems to have been so enamored with its principles that it completely lost sight of the trust required to uphold them.

Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns

#823

Post by prepend »

alasdair_ wrote: post #802
himaraya wrote: post #549

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is wrong. Microsoft has no such rights and its license comes with restrictions, per the cited primary source, meaning a fork would require a very careful approach. https://www.wsj.com/articles/microsoft-and-openai-forge-awkw...

They could make ChatGPT++ https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Visual_J%2B%2B

“Microsoft Chat 365”

Although it would be beautiful if they name it Clippy and finally make Clippy into the all-powerful AGI it was destined to be.

Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns

#824

Post by NKosmatos »

This is what happens when you're a key person and a very good engineer as such, and at the same time the board/company fires you :-)

When are we going to realize that it's people taking bad decisions and not the "company". It's not OpenAI, Google, Apple or whoever, its real people, with names, and positions of power that take such shitty decisions. We should blame them and not something vague as the "company".

Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns

#825

Post by Terretta »

svnt wrote: post #794
himaraya wrote: post #549

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is wrong. Microsoft has no such rights and its license comes with restrictions, per the cited primary source, meaning a fork would require a very careful approach. https://www.wsj.com/articles/microsoft-and-openai-forge-awkw...

But it does suggest a possibility of the appearance of a sudden motive: Open AI implements and releases ChatGPTs (Poe competitor) but fails to tell D’Angelo ahead of time. Microsoft will have access to code (with restrictions, sure) for essentially a duplicate of D’Angelo’s Poe project. Poe’s ability to fundraise craters. D’Angelo works the less seasoned members of the board to try to scuttle OpenAI and Microsoft’s e…

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38348995

Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns

#826

Post by [deleted] »

kashyapc wrote: post #689

Silicon Valley outsider here. Am I being harsh here? I just bothered to look at the full OpenAI board composition. Besides Ilya Sutskever and Greg Brockman, why are these people eligible to be on the OpenAI board? Such young people, calling themselves "President of this", "Director of that". - Adam D'Angelo — Quora CEO (no clue what he's doing on OpenAI board) - Tasha McCauley — a "management scientist" (this is a ne…

[deleted]

Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns

#827

Post by dkjaudyeqooe »

BoorishBears wrote: post #580
JeremyNT wrote: post #464

Earlier quoted context omitted.

There's no way to read any of this other than that the entire operation is a clown show. All respect to the engineers and their technical abilities, but this organization has demonstrated such a level of dysfunction that there can't be any path back for it. Say MS gets what it wants out of this move, what purpose is there in keeping OpenAI around? Wouldn't they be better off just hiring everybody? Is it just some kin…

I feel weird reading comments like this since to me they've demonstrated a level of cohesion I didn't realize could still exist in tech... My biggest frustration with larger orgs in tech is the complete misalignment on delivering value: everyone wants their little fiefdom to be just as important and "blocker worthy" as the next. OpenAI struck me as one of the few companies where that's not being allowed to take root:…

> OpenAI struck me as one of the few companies where that's not being allowed to take root

They just haven't gotten big or rich enough yet for the rot to set in.

Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns

#828

Post by no_wizard »

Well, now we know. Sam Altman matters to the rank and file, and this was a blunder by OpenAI.

I don't feel sorry for Sam or any other executive, but it does hurt the rank and file more than anyone and I hope they land on their fit if this continues to go sideways.

Turns out they acted incompetently in this case as a board, and put the company in a bad position, and so far everyone who resigned has landed fine.

Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns

#829

Post by dragonwriter »

numpad0 wrote: post #612
JumpCrisscross wrote: post #358

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> Microsoft hasn't actually given OpenAI $13 Billion because much of that is in the form of Azure credits To be clear, these don't go away. They remain an asset of OpenAI's, and could help them continue their research for a few years.

A $13B lawsuit against Microsoft Corporation clearly in the wrong surely is an easy one.

"Clearly" in the form of the most probable interpretation of the public facts doesn't mean that it is unambiguous enough that it would be resolved without a trial, and by the time a trial, the inevitable first-level appeal for which the trial judgement would likely be stayed was complete, so that there would even be a collectible judgement, the world would have moved out from underneath OpenAI; if they still existed as an entity, whatever they collected would be basically funding to start from scratch unless they also found a substitute for the Microsoft arrangement in the interim.

Which I don't think is impossible at some level (probably less than Microsoft was funding, initially, or with more compromises elsewhere) with the IP they have if they keep some key staff -- some other interested deep-pockets parties that could use the leg up -- but its not going to be a cakewalk in the best of cases.

Re: OpenAI staff threaten to quit unless board resigns

#830

Post by golergka »

itsoktocry wrote: post #496
bartread wrote: post #435

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> pressure Altman to limit his side-projects People keep talking about this. That was never going to happen. Look at Sam Altman's career: he's all about startups and building companies. Moreover, I can't imagine he would have agreed to sign any kind of contract with OpenAI that required exclusivity. Know who you're hiring; know why you're hiring them. His "side-projects" could have been hugely beneficial to them over…

> His "side-projects" could have been hugely beneficial to them over the long term. How can you make a claim like this when, right or wrong, Sam's independence is literally, currently, tanking the company? How could allowing Sam to do what he wants benefit OpenAI, the non-profit entity?

> Sam's independence is literally, currently, tanking the company?

Before the boards' actions this friday, the company was on one of the most incredible success trajectories in the world. Whatever Sam's been doing as a CEO worked.

Post reply on HN