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OpenAI departures: Why can’t former employees talk?

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Re: OpenAI departures: Why can’t former employees talk?

#901

Post by brudgers »

resonious wrote: post #341
brudgers wrote: post #287

Earlier quoted context omitted.

My unreliable memory is Altman was ( once? ) in favor of extending the period for exercising options. I could be wrong of course but it is consistent with my impression that making other people rich is among his motivations. Not the only one of course. But again I could be wrong.

Wouldn't be too surprised if he changed his mind since then. He is in a very different position now!

Unless a PTEP (Post Termination Exercise Period) beyond the ordinary three months was on offer, there probably wouldn't be a story because the kind of people OpenAI hires would tend to be adverse to working at a place with a PTEP less than three months.

Or not, I could be wrong.

Re: OpenAI departures: Why can’t former employees talk?

#902

Post by stale2002 »

MacsHeadroom wrote: post #872
stale2002 wrote: post #790

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Right now, there is some publicity on Twitter regarding AGI/OpenAI/EA LSD cnc parties (consent non consent/simulated rape parties). So maybe it's related to that. https://twitter.com/soniajoseph_/status/1791604177581310234

The ones going to orgies are the effective altruists / safety researchers who are leaving and not signing the non-disparagement agreement. https://x.com/youraimarketer/status/1791616629912051968 Anyway it's about not disparaging the company not about disclosing what employees do in their free time. Orgies are just parties and LSD use is hardly taboo.

> Orgies are just parties

Well apparently not if there are women who are saying that the scene and community that all these people are involved in is making women uncomfortable or causing them to be harassed or pressured into bad situations.

A situation can be bad, done informally by people within a community, even if it isn't done literally within the corporate headquarters, or if directly the responsibility of one specific company that can be pointed at.

Especially if it is a close-nit group of people who are living together, working together, involved in the same out of work organizations and non profits.

You can read what Sonia says herself.

https://x.com/soniajoseph_/status/1791604177581310234

> The ones going to orgies are the effective altruists / safety researchers who are leaving and not signing the non-disparagement agreement.

Indeed, I am sure that the people who are comfortable with the behavior or situation have no need to be pressured into silence.

Re: OpenAI departures: Why can’t former employees talk?

#903

Post by michaelt »

lifeisstillgood wrote: post #835
marcusverus wrote: post #809

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm sure businesses will capture some of the value, but is there any reason to assume they'll capture all or even most of it? Over the last ~ 50 years, worker productivity is up ~250%[0], profits (within the S&P 500) are up ~100%[1] and real personal (not household) income is up 150%[2]. It should go without saying that a large part of the rise in profits is attributable to the rise of tech. It shouldn't surprise any…

Wait what? I was just listening to the former chief economist of Banknof England going on about how terrible productivity (in the UK) is. So who is right?

Google UK productivity growth and you'll find a graph showing:

UK productivity growth, 1990-2007: 2% per year

UK productivity growth, 2010-2019: 0.5% per year

So they're both right. US 50 year productivity growth looks great, UK 10 year productivity growth looks pretty awful.

Re: OpenAI departures: Why can’t former employees talk?

#904

Post by thayne »

robertlagrant wrote: post #774
yashap wrote: post #760

For a company that is actively pursuing AGI (and probably the #1 contender to get there), this type of behaviour is extremely concerning. There’s a very real/significant risk that AGI either literally destroys the human race, or makes life much shittier for most humans by making most of us obsolete. These risks are precisely why OpenAI was founded as a very open company with a charter that would firmly put the needs…

> or makes life much shittier for most humans by making most of us obsolete I'm not sure this is true. If all the things people are doing are done so much more cheaply they're almost free, that would be good for us, as we're also the buyers as well as the workers. However, I also doubt the premise.

We won't be buyers anymore if we aren't getting paid to work.

Perhaps some kind of garanteed minimal income would be implemented, but we would probably see a shrinkage or complete destruction of the middle class, and massive increases in wealth inequality.

Re: OpenAI departures: Why can’t former employees talk?

#905

Post by mordymoop »

schmidt_fifty wrote: post #764
yashap wrote: post #760

For a company that is actively pursuing AGI (and probably the #1 contender to get there), this type of behaviour is extremely concerning. There’s a very real/significant risk that AGI either literally destroys the human race, or makes life much shittier for most humans by making most of us obsolete. These risks are precisely why OpenAI was founded as a very open company with a charter that would firmly put the needs…

> There’s a very real/significant risk that AGI either literally destroys the human race If this were true, intelligent people would have taken over society by now. Those in power will never relinquish it to a computer just as they refuse to relinquish it to more competent people. For the vast majority of people, AI not only doesn't pose a risk but will only help reveal the incompetence of the ruling class.

Of course intelligent people have taken over society.

Re: OpenAI departures: Why can’t former employees talk?

#906

Post by p1esk »

hmottestad wrote: post #606
kmeisthax wrote: post #449

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If they refuse the contract then they lose out on their options vesting. Basically, OpenAI's contracts work like this: Employment Contract the First: We are paying you (WAGE) for your labor. In addition you also will be paid (OPTIONS) that, after a vesting period, will pay you a lot of money. If you terminate this employment your options are null and void unless you sign Employment Contract the Second. Employment Con…

If say that you were working at Reddit for quite a number of years and all your original options had vested and you had exercised them, then since Reddit went public you would now easily be able to sell your stocks, or keep them if you want. So then you wouldn’t need to sign the second contract. Unless of course you had gotten new options that hadn’t vested yet.

My understanding is as soon as you exercise your options you own them, and the company can’t take them from you.

Can anyone confirm this?

Re: OpenAI departures: Why can’t former employees talk?

#908

Post by xyzzyz »

orlandrescu wrote: post #363
smt88 wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Look at Sam Altman's career and tweets. He's a clown at best, and at worst he's a manipulative crook who only cares about his own enrichment and uses pro-social ideas to give himself a veneer of trustworthiness.

Awfully familiar to the other South-African emerald mine inheritor tech mogul.

You are literally repeating false smears about Elon Mask. No emerald mine has ever been owned by anyone in Elon's family, and Elon certainly didn't inherit any of it. I find it very ironic that you are doing this while accusing someone of being a manipulative crook.

Re: OpenAI departures: Why can’t former employees talk?

#910

Post by varelse »

bookaway wrote: post #831
nar001 wrote: post #625

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Any stories or events you can talk about? It sounds interesting

The story of the "YC mafia" takeover of Conde Nast era reddit as summarized by ex-ceo Yishan who resigned after tiring of Altman's constant Machiavelli machinations is also hilarious and foreshadowing of future events[0]. I'm sure by the time Altman resigned from the Reddit board OpenAI had long incorporated the entire corpus into ChatGPT already. At the moment all the engineers at OpenAI, including gdb, who currentl…

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