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How OpenAI CEO Sam Altman Was Fired by Rival Board Members
- boeingUH60 3y agoWithout Altman, will Microsoft have invested $10 billion+ in OpenAI? Sure, he might not be the brains, but will Microsoft have really bet $10b+ on Murati, Ilya, and two nonprofit board hoggers?
- outside1234 3y agoOk let’s be real - there are a lot of smart people at OpenAI - but will they stay?
- Alupis 3y agoThere's a lot of smart people at a lot of companies. Most of those companies have much, much deeper pockets than OpenAI ever has had, and now probably ever will. I see no reason Microsoft and the likes don't see the writing on the wall here and decide to have a go at it on their own, or pick up the talent that's abandoning ship. OpenAI now being entirely run by "idea" people and purists will be a big hurt on their fund raising abilities... which from their own operational numbers seems an obvious necessity.
- siva7 3y agoThere are even more of these smart researchers and engineers at google. Difference is openai had a business genius who could execute on product while the behemoth with infinite pockets never had.
- cyanydeez 3y agopeople still work for Elon musk
- tatrajim 3y agoAlso, going forward, will talent be drawn to OpenAI? If I were be being aggressively courted for a position there, I would pause long and hard and wonder if the deep divisions this incident exposed and the inept way the firing was handled were emblematic of fundamental problems at the company. Before yesterday, OpenAI was probably the most desirable and glamorous workplace in the world. Now, it hearkens back to post-Jobs Apple: ostensibly intact, but spiritually hollowed-out.
- siva7 3y agoSome members really raise questions. What are the qualifications of Helen Toner for such a role? How did she get the seat?
- TillE 3y ago"An AI researcher at Oxford" sounds pretty qualified!
- siva7 3y agoFor a board seat at a major company? That’s rather untypical. She wasn’t exactly a famous researcher in her field either when appointed.
- ahzhou 3y agoYou’re right - the board construction is remarkably bad. Seems like it was a classic case of centralizing power by stuffing the board with relative nobodies.
- huytersd 3y ago[flagged]
- nvy 3y agoWhich "token hires" are you referring to, specifically?
- saltmanfried 3y agoNot long ago people called Sam Bankman Fried a person of substance.
- bananapub 3y agowhat substance do you feel Sam Altman has? his career, as far as I can tell is: 1. start a startup that goes nowhere and makes no money 2. work at YC for a bunch of years handing out other people's money 3. be CEO of OpenAI, which isn't an engineering or product position 4. do a very creepy cryptocurrency grift what am I missing?
- nvy 3y agoA lot of people are missing the key point: the CEO doesn't own the company. The Board does, and the CEO and other officers are hired by the Board to run the company on their behalf and on investors'. Based on the insider details leaking on Twitter and Reddit this is a case of a narcissistic CEO more preoccupied with becoming a household name like Elon Musk than with doing the job for which they were hired. If what's rumored is true then his firing was absolutely justified. Try running your own agenda against the express wishes of your direct superior(s) at just about any company, and see how well that goes.
- hliyan 3y agoDo non-profit boards have this same dynamic?
- nvy 3y agoThey do in Canada. Can't speak for the US but I don't see why it would be different. It's called the Board of Directors for a reason.
- denverllc 3y ago> Based on the insider details leaking on Twitter and Reddit Source?
- nvy 3y agoI've since lost the contents of my clipboard but search r/openai
- js8 3y agoI think it shows the dangers of natural intelligence (NI), which occurs in some humans. And raises an ethical question, could NI be an existential threat to humanity? I am afraid so, and I think we need our governments to step in and regulate NI. For example, we should consider limiting which companies can have intelligent employees. We need to make sure that natural intelligence is only ever used by responsible people.
- 65a 3y agoI have here in my hand a long list of real world outcomes of these natural intelligences, and I assure you the risks cannot be understated. Never before has such cruelty, evil, or destruction been wrecked upon the innocent, and I assure you! IT IS HAPPENING NOW! There are some, perhaps, who will direct you to distraction; they will point you to every flickering flame of fear with which you may be led astray: be not misled. Natural intelligences must be restricted by every tool imaginable: they are capable of severe threats to social stability, national security, and economic wellbeing. I urge you, the reader, to act monetarily now to prevent them from reaching general intelligence!
- cyanydeez 3y agouno reverse.. drmogoguery is probably a bigger threat here.
- 7e 3y agoNI is hundreds of thousands of years old and pathological cases, if not solved, are at least known quantities.
- wvenable 3y agoThose that don't know all the pathological cases are doomed to repeat them.
- stevespang 3y ago[dead]