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On Setting the Record Straight (Stability AI CEO)

4 points by asim 3y ago

SilverBirch 3y ago
It's funny, I hadn't read the Forbes article, but Emad's response to it both draws attention to it, and makes him look quite bad. The Masters thing - it sounds like he's deliberately misleading people because of Oxford's idiosyncratic approach to Masters titles (it comes automatically with a bachelors after time, so it's not a proper degree and it's unethical to go around claiming it as a qualification when you know people won't know it's not like the standard academic credential). The hedge fund just looks full on weird - The bad performance was before I got there, then they hired me, did amazingly, I quit within a year and then they shut the fund down because of the prior bad performance? This does not add up. It's absolutely fine to admit something in your past didn't go well! Unless you're trying to do an Elon Musk style hagiography. And some of this just seems like pointless own goals. Forbes claim they screwed up payroll and the guy's wife was running PR. That's obviously worrying and isn't something you should do as a respectable big company. Which, at the time, they weren't. They were a scrappy start up and everyone knows you're going to screw up some basics. No big deal. But don't get all shifty about it! It's a bad idea for the CEO's wife to be fiddling with the finances. It was a mistake, just be open and honest. I actually kind of agree with him that what Forbes is alleging doesn't amount to much. It's sort of the standard silicon valley bullshit. I don't like it and wouldn't do it myself, but it's probably why he is where he is. But jeez, hire in a decent PR person. Oh and learn what journalism is, because the Forbes article wasn't an attack, it was journalism.
jq-r 3y ago
Original Forbes article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrickcai/2023/06/04/stable-diffusion-emad-mostaque-stability-ai-exaggeration/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrickcai/2023/06/04/stable-di...
ulrikhansen54 3y ago
He's been contradicting himself on various podcasts, too. The guy is hot air.

4 points by asim 3y ago

It's funny, I hadn't read the Forbes article, but Emad's response to it both draws attention to it, and makes him look quite bad. The Masters thing - it sounds like he's deliberately misleading people because of Oxford's idiosyncratic approach to Masters titles (it comes automatically with a bachelors after time, so it's not a proper degree and it's unethical to go around claiming it as a qualification when you know people won't know it's not like the standard academic credential). The hedge fund just looks full on weird - The bad performance was before I got there, then they hired me, did amazingly, I quit within a year and then they shut the fund down because of the prior bad performance? This does not add up. It's absolutely fine to admit something in your past didn't go well! Unless you're trying to do an Elon Musk style hagiography. And some of this just seems like pointless own goals. Forbes claim they screwed up payroll and the guy's wife was running PR. That's obviously worrying and isn't something you should do as a respectable big company. Which, at the time, they weren't. They were a scrappy start up and everyone knows you're going to screw up some basics. No big deal. But don't get all shifty about it! It's a bad idea for the CEO's wife to be fiddling with the finances. It was a mistake, just be open and honest. I actually kind of agree with him that what Forbes is alleging doesn't amount to much. It's sort of the standard silicon valley bullshit. I don't like it and wouldn't do it myself, but it's probably why he is where he is. But jeez, hire in a decent PR person. Oh and learn what journalism is, because the Forbes article wasn't an attack, it was journalism.

jq-r 3y ago

Original Forbes article: https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrickcai/2023/06/04/stable-diffusion-emad-mostaque-stability-ai-exaggeration/ https://www.forbes.com/sites/kenrickcai/2023/06/04/stable-di...

ulrikhansen54 3y ago

He's been contradicting himself on various podcasts, too. The guy is hot air.