6 ms·

I honestly don’t understand the situation here. Why would Sam sit down for an interview and then request it be removed? Did he accidentally let slip something h

I honestly don’t understand the situation here. Why would Sam sit down for an interview and then request it be removed? Did he accidentally let slip something he didn’t mean to? Isn’t controlling the message supposed to be one of his best skills? I find it hard to believe anything said was really not intended for release. Also, does anyone at OpenAI really think removing the blog post will remove it from the internet? The top comment here is already a link to an archive of the content. I am interested in hearing the rationale for this action as I really don’t see why they requested the removal.

dist-epoch 3y ago
It could be for some legal reason. In that case it doesn't matter that the content it's still on the internet, it only matters that you took action and fixed the "error".
hartator 3y ago
OpenAI is Microsoft now.
- campbel 3y ago
  Good thing to remember.
- anticensor 3y ago
  FTFY: OpenAI is AI.com now.
nico 3y ago
Maybe they are actually aiming for the Streisand effect on purpose Create an interesting and speculative situation out of nothing Heck this article is top 3 on HNs front page right now
- taneq 3y ago
  Oooh maybe they tried to avoid this situation but GPT4 saw an opportunity. ;)
- abstractcontrol 3y ago
  They do that a lot, like what with GPT-2 being too dangerous to release. Anyone remember that. How many years ago was that?
mattmaroon 3y ago
Also, why remove it even if requested? If you knowingly sit down for an interview, I don’t believe you have any power, legally speaking, to force that. It’s hardly bad journalism to say no to such a request.
- mhb 3y ago
  Maybe you want another interview sometime.
- catchnear4321 3y ago
  sometimes requests come with flowers. or dump trucks full of money. or lawyers.
  - salad-tycoon 3y ago
    Send me: Lawyers, Guns, & Money. I bet open ai could twist my arm too.
- veave 3y ago
  If anything it's bad journalism to remove it.
  - daveguy 3y ago
    The author knows that it's easily available. It doesn't matter if the original site retracted it. The author was also YC20 Humanloop. So they have a loyalty to Altman that most reporters wouldn't.
- Veen 3y ago
  Access. If you don't play ball, you don't get invited to events like the one the article was based on. It's the same reason journalists adhere to embargoes.
- swyx 3y ago
  plain and simple - it wasnt an interview, and humanloop screwed up publishing details of a private conversation. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36179213 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36179213
okdood64 3y ago
Sam Altman sits down for a detailed interview with an included product roadmap. Microsoft is like "bro, why did you do that?" and want it redacted.
- doctoboggan 3y ago
  That’s part of what I find hard to believe. I would have figured Sam would be aware of the strategic messaging goals not only of OpenAI but also of MS, their biggest investor.
  - 93po 3y ago
    To be fair, Sam is human and is doing a LOT right now. In addition to leading OpenAI and partnerships, he's having to do a parade lap around the world to console politicians and communities.
    - SSLy 3y ago
      This seems like the moment you split the top-most exec position into, say, President and CEO. One deals externally, one internally.
      - 93po 3y ago
        Agreed. But it's also a small mistake, if it was one at all.
- swyx 3y ago
  plain and simple - it wasnt an interview, and humanloop screwed up publishing details of a private conversation. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36179213 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36179213
burkaman 3y ago
> Quite a few developers said they were nervous about building with the OpenAI APIs when OpenAI might end up releasing products that are competitive to them. Sam said that OpenAI would not release more products beyond ChatGPT. I bet this isn't true and he wasn't supposed to say it.
- getmeinrn 3y ago
  Any lawyers know if this opens them up for legal action if they kill a business in this manner after a public statement like this? It must, if this is the reason they requested the removal, otherwise why would they tip their hand about what they intend to do in the future? And not to mention it makes developers even more concerned. They could have just let the lie alone, instead of drawing attention to it.
  - danielmarkbruce 3y ago
    I'm not a lawyer but deal with legal stuff - they are not open to legal action.
    - giraffe-flavor 3y ago
      Hey but that hearsay seems like it is a solid foundation to build a case on! “Your honor, the defendant said some things in an interview that they don’t agree with anymore and I want to sue!” “Sue for what?” “Sue to make them believe the thing they said!!!” Lol.
    - dmvdoug 3y ago
      Now, now. They are open to legal action… …just not anything that would survive a motion to dismiss.
      - danielmarkbruce 3y ago
        I guess it depends on your definition of "open".
knaik94 3y ago
"A lot of developers are interested in getting access to ChatGPT plugins via the API but Sam said he didn’t think they’d be released any time soon. The usage of plugins, other than browsing, suggests that they don’t have PMF yet." There might also be some concern related to the comments on the approach to plugins. Plugins not having a product market fit reflects slightly negatively, on the companies powering the plugin and OpenAI. It becomes harder to get companies to invest time in creating plugins. I am not sure if the there was an option to remove just the issue sections of the post.
crlln 3y ago
This could possibly be a pr move / marketing strategy to attract attention. Kind of Streisand effect — I have no idea what he said in the interview, but seeing it being removed ignites my interest
Oras 3y ago
I was in that meeting. It was an invite-only developers round table. The aim was to discuss the platform from the developers point of view, receive feedback to improve the API and other discussions in general. This was followed by a public fireside chat hosted by Azeem Azhar and QA session. From the context, I would believe that OpenAI didn’t want some of the points discussed in a closed room to go to public.
- CamperBob2 3y ago
  Is Raza's summary basically accurate?
- TigeriusKirk 3y ago
  If OpenAI didn't explicitly state that it was not to be shared, that's on them.
- braindead_in 3y ago
  What about the roadmap itself? Can we look forward to these goodies?
cyanydeez 3y ago
They're basically new age crypto with actual content but that same need to handwaved.
EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 3y ago
He obviously doesn't want to deal with all the filtering and AI re-education stuff, wants to just sell pure AI, but business people say hey ...
irthomasthomas 3y ago
Guessing Sam was high when he mentioned a possible 1m token count this year.

dist-epoch 3y ago

It could be for some legal reason. In that case it doesn't matter that the content it's still on the internet, it only matters that you took action and fixed the "error".

hartator 3y ago

OpenAI is Microsoft now.

campbel 3y ago
Good thing to remember.
anticensor 3y ago
FTFY: OpenAI is AI.com now.

nico 3y ago

Maybe they are actually aiming for the Streisand effect on purpose Create an interesting and speculative situation out of nothing Heck this article is top 3 on HNs front page right now

taneq 3y ago
Oooh maybe they tried to avoid this situation but GPT4 saw an opportunity. ;)
abstractcontrol 3y ago
They do that a lot, like what with GPT-2 being too dangerous to release. Anyone remember that. How many years ago was that?

mattmaroon 3y ago

Also, why remove it even if requested? If you knowingly sit down for an interview, I don’t believe you have any power, legally speaking, to force that. It’s hardly bad journalism to say no to such a request.

mhb 3y ago
Maybe you want another interview sometime.
catchnear4321 3y ago
sometimes requests come with flowers. or dump trucks full of money. or lawyers.
- salad-tycoon 3y ago
  Send me: Lawyers, Guns, & Money. I bet open ai could twist my arm too.
veave 3y ago
If anything it's bad journalism to remove it.
- daveguy 3y ago
  The author knows that it's easily available. It doesn't matter if the original site retracted it. The author was also YC20 Humanloop. So they have a loyalty to Altman that most reporters wouldn't.
Veen 3y ago
Access. If you don't play ball, you don't get invited to events like the one the article was based on. It's the same reason journalists adhere to embargoes.
swyx 3y ago
plain and simple - it wasnt an interview, and humanloop screwed up publishing details of a private conversation. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36179213 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36179213

okdood64 3y ago

Sam Altman sits down for a detailed interview with an included product roadmap. Microsoft is like "bro, why did you do that?" and want it redacted.

doctoboggan 3y ago
That’s part of what I find hard to believe. I would have figured Sam would be aware of the strategic messaging goals not only of OpenAI but also of MS, their biggest investor.
- 93po 3y ago
  To be fair, Sam is human and is doing a LOT right now. In addition to leading OpenAI and partnerships, he's having to do a parade lap around the world to console politicians and communities.
  - SSLy 3y ago
    This seems like the moment you split the top-most exec position into, say, President and CEO. One deals externally, one internally.
    - 93po 3y ago
      Agreed. But it's also a small mistake, if it was one at all.
swyx 3y ago
plain and simple - it wasnt an interview, and humanloop screwed up publishing details of a private conversation. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36179213 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=36179213

burkaman 3y ago

> Quite a few developers said they were nervous about building with the OpenAI APIs when OpenAI might end up releasing products that are competitive to them. Sam said that OpenAI would not release more products beyond ChatGPT. I bet this isn't true and he wasn't supposed to say it.

getmeinrn 3y ago
Any lawyers know if this opens them up for legal action if they kill a business in this manner after a public statement like this? It must, if this is the reason they requested the removal, otherwise why would they tip their hand about what they intend to do in the future? And not to mention it makes developers even more concerned. They could have just let the lie alone, instead of drawing attention to it.
- danielmarkbruce 3y ago
  I'm not a lawyer but deal with legal stuff - they are not open to legal action.
  - giraffe-flavor 3y ago
    Hey but that hearsay seems like it is a solid foundation to build a case on! “Your honor, the defendant said some things in an interview that they don’t agree with anymore and I want to sue!” “Sue for what?” “Sue to make them believe the thing they said!!!” Lol.
  - dmvdoug 3y ago
    Now, now. They are open to legal action… …just not anything that would survive a motion to dismiss.
    - danielmarkbruce 3y ago
      I guess it depends on your definition of "open".

knaik94 3y ago

"A lot of developers are interested in getting access to ChatGPT plugins via the API but Sam said he didn’t think they’d be released any time soon. The usage of plugins, other than browsing, suggests that they don’t have PMF yet." There might also be some concern related to the comments on the approach to plugins. Plugins not having a product market fit reflects slightly negatively, on the companies powering the plugin and OpenAI. It becomes harder to get companies to invest time in creating plugins. I am not sure if the there was an option to remove just the issue sections of the post.

crlln 3y ago

This could possibly be a pr move / marketing strategy to attract attention. Kind of Streisand effect — I have no idea what he said in the interview, but seeing it being removed ignites my interest

Oras 3y ago

I was in that meeting. It was an invite-only developers round table. The aim was to discuss the platform from the developers point of view, receive feedback to improve the API and other discussions in general. This was followed by a public fireside chat hosted by Azeem Azhar and QA session. From the context, I would believe that OpenAI didn’t want some of the points discussed in a closed room to go to public.

CamperBob2 3y ago
Is Raza's summary basically accurate?
TigeriusKirk 3y ago
If OpenAI didn't explicitly state that it was not to be shared, that's on them.
braindead_in 3y ago
What about the roadmap itself? Can we look forward to these goodies?

cyanydeez 3y ago

They're basically new age crypto with actual content but that same need to handwaved.

EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 3y ago

He obviously doesn't want to deal with all the filtering and AI re-education stuff, wants to just sell pure AI, but business people say hey ...

irthomasthomas 3y ago

Guessing Sam was high when he mentioned a possible 1m token count this year.