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TIL Sam Altman became the CEO of OpenAI because he is good at verbally patting billionaires on the back.

by 0xDEF 3y ago

sleepybrett 3y ago
[flagged]
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
gkoberger 3y ago
No, Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI because he built it. He's incredibly smart and driven, the only wealthy person I've worked with who I think is, at his core, a good person who cares. I don't know the backstory, but they've gone their separate ways since this podcast. Musk left OpenAI after a failed takeover attempt: > Musk told fellow cofounder Sam Altman in early 2018 that he thought OpenAI, which has since created ChatGPT, was lagging behind Google, people familiar with the matter told Semafor. Musk offered to take charge of OpenAI to lead it himself, but when Altman and other co-founders said no, Musk stepped down from the board and backed out of a huge donation, per Semafor. https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-reportedly-tried-lead-openai-left-after-founders-objected-2023-3 https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-reportedly-tried-l...
- bookmark1231 3y ago
  Have you considered that maybe his skill is making other people, like you, believe he is a good person who cares? He is, after all, most known for his ability to influence others (particularly billionaires) into doing what he wants. And the whole doomsday prepper thing is pretty weird.
  - gkoberger 3y ago
    Maybe! But I wasn’t rich or important when I worked with Sam, and he had no reason to charm me. He barely knew me, and everything I saw about him was genuine and kind — not to me, but how he interacted with the world. I’ve known many “important” or “rich” people over the years, and there’s always something in their eye that betrays what they want you to think of them. Sam is likely the only person of that sort I’d ever speak fondly of — he’s a genuinely good person who cares about humans more than the abstract concept of humanity.
shapefrog 3y ago
TIL Elon bought Sam Altman a horse (or I assume he followed through with his promise to in exchange ...)
autonomousErwin 3y ago
I think a lot of people wish this were true as it would justify any envy people have of him. Unfortunately, I don't think you can be as successful at something like Artificial Intelligence by just sucking up to people with money. I don't know him, but when a lot of smart independent voices are saying "this guy's wicked smart" I really think it would be a lot harder to fake it than to actually be wicked smart (and deeply altruistic - fella seems pretty genuine about progressing humanity instead of MSFT's share price).
- JohnFen 3y ago
  > it would justify any envy people have of him. What envy?
  - autonomousErwin 3y ago
    You don't think people don't envy people like him? Multi-millionaire. CEO of the most promising AI company in the world which might actually crack it. World Leaders are asking him when he's free for a quick chat. How fulfilled do you think he feels? It would be weird for people not to have some envy of someone like that. It's not super healthy but the only thing productive about envy is that it pushes you to do something better.
    - singleshot_ 3y ago
      > How fulfilled do you think he feels? This is such a deliciously strange question to ask about a person who isn’t one’s self.
      - autonomousErwin 3y ago
        In a world where our jobs and entire careers are based on "impact" and "fulfilment" I think this an interesting question to ask about someone who's had the impact he's had as in I don't know anyone who hasn't heard of ChatGPT.
        3y ago
ZephyrBlu 3y ago
Even if this is true it's odd to disparage someone based on this. Influencing people is a valuable and important skill.

TIL Sam Altman became the CEO of OpenAI because he is good at verbally patting billionaires on the back.

by 0xDEF 3y ago

TIL Sam Altman became the CEO of OpenAI because he is good at verbally patting billionaires on the back.

sleepybrett 3y ago

[flagged]

deleted 3y ago

[deleted]

gkoberger 3y ago

No, Sam Altman is the CEO of OpenAI because he built it. He's incredibly smart and driven, the only wealthy person I've worked with who I think is, at his core, a good person who cares. I don't know the backstory, but they've gone their separate ways since this podcast. Musk left OpenAI after a failed takeover attempt: > Musk told fellow cofounder Sam Altman in early 2018 that he thought OpenAI, which has since created ChatGPT, was lagging behind Google, people familiar with the matter told Semafor. Musk offered to take charge of OpenAI to lead it himself, but when Altman and other co-founders said no, Musk stepped down from the board and backed out of a huge donation, per Semafor. https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-reportedly-tried-lead-openai-left-after-founders-objected-2023-3 https://www.businessinsider.com/elon-musk-reportedly-tried-l...

bookmark1231 3y ago
Have you considered that maybe his skill is making other people, like you, believe he is a good person who cares? He is, after all, most known for his ability to influence others (particularly billionaires) into doing what he wants. And the whole doomsday prepper thing is pretty weird.
- gkoberger 3y ago
  Maybe! But I wasn’t rich or important when I worked with Sam, and he had no reason to charm me. He barely knew me, and everything I saw about him was genuine and kind — not to me, but how he interacted with the world. I’ve known many “important” or “rich” people over the years, and there’s always something in their eye that betrays what they want you to think of them. Sam is likely the only person of that sort I’d ever speak fondly of — he’s a genuinely good person who cares about humans more than the abstract concept of humanity.

shapefrog 3y ago

TIL Elon bought Sam Altman a horse (or I assume he followed through with his promise to in exchange ...)

autonomousErwin 3y ago

I think a lot of people wish this were true as it would justify any envy people have of him. Unfortunately, I don't think you can be as successful at something like Artificial Intelligence by just sucking up to people with money. I don't know him, but when a lot of smart independent voices are saying "this guy's wicked smart" I really think it would be a lot harder to fake it than to actually be wicked smart (and deeply altruistic - fella seems pretty genuine about progressing humanity instead of MSFT's share price).

JohnFen 3y ago
> it would justify any envy people have of him. What envy?
- autonomousErwin 3y ago
  You don't think people don't envy people like him? Multi-millionaire. CEO of the most promising AI company in the world which might actually crack it. World Leaders are asking him when he's free for a quick chat. How fulfilled do you think he feels? It would be weird for people not to have some envy of someone like that. It's not super healthy but the only thing productive about envy is that it pushes you to do something better.
  - singleshot_ 3y ago
    > How fulfilled do you think he feels? This is such a deliciously strange question to ask about a person who isn’t one’s self.
    - autonomousErwin 3y ago
      In a world where our jobs and entire careers are based on "impact" and "fulfilment" I think this an interesting question to ask about someone who's had the impact he's had as in I don't know anyone who hasn't heard of ChatGPT.
      - 3y ago

ZephyrBlu 3y ago

Even if this is true it's odd to disparage someone based on this. Influencing people is a valuable and important skill.