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My bet is that the last paragraph of the statement holds the key: > OpenAI was founded as a non-profit in 2015 with the core mission of ensuring that artificia

My bet is that the last paragraph of the statement holds the key: > OpenAI was founded as a non-profit in 2015 with the core mission of ensuring that artificial general intelligence benefits all of humanity. In 2019, OpenAI restructured to ensure that the company could raise capital in pursuit of this mission, while preserving the nonprofit's mission, governance, and oversight. The majority of the board is independent, and the independent directors do not hold equity in OpenAI. While the company has experienced dramatic growth, it remains the fundamental governance responsibility of the board to advance OpenAI’s mission and preserve the principles of its Charter. This prompted me to actually read up on the charter: https://openai.com/charter https://openai.com/charter

hyperthesis 3y ago
A tricky conflict. Legal issues cause strange decisions. Maybe even Sam recommended his sacking, for optimal damage control.
andrewstuart 3y ago
>>my bet is that the last paragraph of the statement holds the key: No, this is obviously the key: "review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board" This is an explicit statement that he was lying to the board about something. It cannot be worded more clearly unless switching to use the word "lying".
- EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 3y ago
  There is no AI, Sam Altman was answering all the prompts?
  - jrockway 3y ago
    That is one of the places my mind went, but with the availability of open-source language models, it's pretty unlikely. You can run a language model yourself and observe that it's almost as good as ChatGPT, so there is no question that OpenAI is capable of providing the services they do in the way they say they do.
  - Scarblac 3y ago
    Sam Altman never informed the board, let ChatGPT write all his mails instead?
  - andrewstuart 3y ago
    "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"
  - 698969 3y ago
    Ahh, so that's why he cut off signups after Dev Day.
  - maximus-decimus 3y ago
    You're describing Theranos.
- kaycebasques 3y ago
  Yes true that is obviously the most pertinent sentence. I guess my point is that even with that sentence there is still wide-ranging speculation about what happened, and I think the last paragraph is hinting at what happened.
- jeffwask 3y ago
  Why not both "benefits all of humanity" and "lying"? What is in pursuit of profit he made deals that went against that tenant and lied about them? It maybe all ties back to Microsoft.
- sharkjacobs 3y ago
  Yes, it was clear that he was lying, but lying doesn't matter for in a vacuum, the thing that matters is what he's lied about. That's what it's fun to speculate about.
- kromem 3y ago
  Read the rest of the line you cut out: "he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities." Given the comment above correctly noted that they explicitly ended on a whole thing about how the board's key responsibility was their commitment to the original core mission, and their issue with his lying was interference with their responsibilities, this does seem to be connected to that.
bertil 3y ago
The most plausible explanation is that OpenAI tech was used for the military. That would explain why Eric Schmidt would not (and his immediate support) and that board is anti-mil tech enough to think those applications don’t “benefit all of humanity.” Ilya and Mira probably didn’t know and might have discovered it recently and raised it with the board, hence the promotion. Note: both have Eastern-European ties, so if the application is in Ukraine, they could have strong feelings about it. Greg co-signed or knew and didn’t tell. Alternatively, Elon did, through Starlink and wanted to get revenge. Alternatively, it could be a case where there was an option, Sam refused on ethical grounds without telling the board; they thought what is happening in Ukraine (or Gaza) justified the intervention. They confronted him and he lied.
- __jonas 3y ago
  Not sure what you mean by this, it is used by the military, and not in secret: https://scale.com/donovan https://scale.com/donovan Scroll down on the page, OpenAI is listed as a model provider, with logo and everything. Or do you mean some kind of more 'direct' deal with military?
  - bertil 3y ago
    Yes: a handful of organisations would do shameful things to get raw conversations for certain individuals outside of judicial review.
bertil 3y ago
The most plausible explanation is that OpenAI tech was used for the military. That would explain why Eric Schmidt would not (and his immediate support) and that board is anti-mil tech enough to think those applications don’t “benefit all of humanity.” Ilya and Mira probably didn’t know and might have discovered it recently and raised it with the board, hence the promotion. Note: both have Eastern-European ties, so if the application is in Ukraine, they could have strong feelings about it. Greg co-signed or knew and didn’t tell. Alternatively, Elon found about it through StarLink and wanted to get revenge. Alternatively, it could be a case where there was an option, Sam refused on ethical grounds without telling the board; they thought what is happening in Ukraine (or Gaza—Sam’s bio is a single Star of David, uncharacteristically short) justified the intervention. They confronted him, and he lied — or couldn’t tell because he was under a sworn statement to defend military secrets. Either way, it explains the secrecy.
- 0xDEF 3y ago
  My bad: Ilya is indeed of Russian-Jewish origin.
  - bertil 3y ago
    I thought Ilya was from a Russian family who emigrated to Israel last century… You learn. Whether Albania is in Eastern Europe is debatable. It was behind the Iron Curtain.
    - two_in_one 3y ago
      Russia is partially geographically sort of Eastern Europe, not in the union though. Israelis officials think it's in Europe too, and it's in the East.
      - bertil 3y ago
        What I meant was: has emotional ties to what happening in Ukraine. It could influence how they perceive the merits of a military collaboration. Many Poles for instance would be ready to do anything.

hyperthesis 3y ago

A tricky conflict. Legal issues cause strange decisions. Maybe even Sam recommended his sacking, for optimal damage control.

andrewstuart 3y ago

>>my bet is that the last paragraph of the statement holds the key: No, this is obviously the key: "review process by the board, which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board" This is an explicit statement that he was lying to the board about something. It cannot be worded more clearly unless switching to use the word "lying".

EVa5I7bHFq9mnYK 3y ago
There is no AI, Sam Altman was answering all the prompts?
- jrockway 3y ago
  That is one of the places my mind went, but with the availability of open-source language models, it's pretty unlikely. You can run a language model yourself and observe that it's almost as good as ChatGPT, so there is no question that OpenAI is capable of providing the services they do in the way they say they do.
- Scarblac 3y ago
  Sam Altman never informed the board, let ChatGPT write all his mails instead?
- andrewstuart 3y ago
  "Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain!"
- 698969 3y ago
  Ahh, so that's why he cut off signups after Dev Day.
- maximus-decimus 3y ago
  You're describing Theranos.
kaycebasques 3y ago
Yes true that is obviously the most pertinent sentence. I guess my point is that even with that sentence there is still wide-ranging speculation about what happened, and I think the last paragraph is hinting at what happened.
jeffwask 3y ago
Why not both "benefits all of humanity" and "lying"? What is in pursuit of profit he made deals that went against that tenant and lied about them? It maybe all ties back to Microsoft.
sharkjacobs 3y ago
Yes, it was clear that he was lying, but lying doesn't matter for in a vacuum, the thing that matters is what he's lied about. That's what it's fun to speculate about.
kromem 3y ago
Read the rest of the line you cut out: "he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities." Given the comment above correctly noted that they explicitly ended on a whole thing about how the board's key responsibility was their commitment to the original core mission, and their issue with his lying was interference with their responsibilities, this does seem to be connected to that.

bertil 3y ago

The most plausible explanation is that OpenAI tech was used for the military. That would explain why Eric Schmidt would not (and his immediate support) and that board is anti-mil tech enough to think those applications don’t “benefit all of humanity.” Ilya and Mira probably didn’t know and might have discovered it recently and raised it with the board, hence the promotion. Note: both have Eastern-European ties, so if the application is in Ukraine, they could have strong feelings about it. Greg co-signed or knew and didn’t tell. Alternatively, Elon did, through Starlink and wanted to get revenge. Alternatively, it could be a case where there was an option, Sam refused on ethical grounds without telling the board; they thought what is happening in Ukraine (or Gaza) justified the intervention. They confronted him and he lied.

__jonas 3y ago
Not sure what you mean by this, it is used by the military, and not in secret: https://scale.com/donovan https://scale.com/donovan Scroll down on the page, OpenAI is listed as a model provider, with logo and everything. Or do you mean some kind of more 'direct' deal with military?
- bertil 3y ago
  Yes: a handful of organisations would do shameful things to get raw conversations for certain individuals outside of judicial review.

bertil 3y ago

The most plausible explanation is that OpenAI tech was used for the military. That would explain why Eric Schmidt would not (and his immediate support) and that board is anti-mil tech enough to think those applications don’t “benefit all of humanity.” Ilya and Mira probably didn’t know and might have discovered it recently and raised it with the board, hence the promotion. Note: both have Eastern-European ties, so if the application is in Ukraine, they could have strong feelings about it. Greg co-signed or knew and didn’t tell. Alternatively, Elon found about it through StarLink and wanted to get revenge. Alternatively, it could be a case where there was an option, Sam refused on ethical grounds without telling the board; they thought what is happening in Ukraine (or Gaza—Sam’s bio is a single Star of David, uncharacteristically short) justified the intervention. They confronted him, and he lied — or couldn’t tell because he was under a sworn statement to defend military secrets. Either way, it explains the secrecy.

0xDEF 3y ago
My bad: Ilya is indeed of Russian-Jewish origin.
- bertil 3y ago
  I thought Ilya was from a Russian family who emigrated to Israel last century… You learn. Whether Albania is in Eastern Europe is debatable. It was behind the Iron Curtain.
  - two_in_one 3y ago
    Russia is partially geographically sort of Eastern Europe, not in the union though. Israelis officials think it's in Europe too, and it's in the East.
    - bertil 3y ago
      What I meant was: has emotional ties to what happening in Ukraine. It could influence how they perceive the merits of a military collaboration. Many Poles for instance would be ready to do anything.