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This was a very personal firing in my opinion. Unless other, really damaging behaviors emerge, no responsible board fires their CEO with such a lack of care for

This was a very personal firing in my opinion. Unless other, really damaging behaviors emerge, no responsible board fires their CEO with such a lack of care for the corporate reputation and their partners unless the firing is a personal grievance connected to an internal power play. This should be embarrassing to everyone involved, and sama has a real grievance here. Likely legal repercussions. Of course if they really did just invent AGI, and sama indicated an intent to monetize, that might cause people to act without caution if the board is AGI doomers. But I'd think even in that case it would be an argument best worked out behind closed doors. This reminds everybody of Jobs of course, but perhaps another example is Gary Gygax at TSR back in the 80s.

0xDEF 3y ago
>responsible board The board was irresponsible and incompetent by design. There is one OpenAI board member who has an art degree and is part of some kind of cultish "singularity" spiritual/neo-religious thing. That individual has also never had a real job and is on the board of several other non-profits.
- Doctor_Fegg 3y ago
  > There is one OpenAI board member who has an art degree Oh no! Everyone knows that progress is only achieved by people with computer science degrees.
  - xvector 3y ago
    People with zero experience in technology should simply not be allowed to make decisions about it. This is how you get politicians that try to ban encryption to "save the children."
    - skywhopper 3y ago
      Why do you assume someone with an art degree has “zero experience with technology”? I assume many artists these days are highly sophisticated users of technology.
      - xvector 3y ago
        And we know politicians use technology too. Yet here we are.
- deeviant 3y ago
  But they are married to somebody famous, so obviously qualified.
xapata 3y ago
Gygax? The history books don't think much of his business skills, starting with the creation of AD&D as a fiction to avoid paying royalties to Arneson.
fulladder 3y ago
Altman's not going to sue. Right now he has the high ground and the board is the one that looks petty and immature. It would be dumb for him to do anything that reverses this dynamic. Altman is going to move on and announce a new venture in the coming weeks. Whether that venture is in AI or not in AI will be very revealing about what he truly believes are the prospects for the space. Brockman and the others will likely do something new in AI.
- jnsaff2 3y ago
  > It would be dumb for him to do anything that… I admire you but these days dumb is kinda the norm. Look at the other Sam for example. Really hard to keep your mouth shut and do smart things when you think really highly about yourself.
- deeviant 3y ago
  Altman is a major investor in the company behind the Humane AI Pin, which, does not inspire confidence for his ability to find a new home for his "brilliance."
  - peanuty1 3y ago
    He's also the founder and CEO of WorldCoin.
- bmitc 3y ago
  > Right now he has the high ground and the board is the one that looks petty and immature. This is an interesting take. Didn't the board effectively claim that he was lying to or misleading them? If that's true, how does someone doing that and being called out on it given them the high ground? By many accounts that have come out, it seems Altman had several schemes in work going against the charter of the non-profit OpenAI. > Whether that venture is in AI or not in AI will be very revealing about what he truly believes are the prospects for the space. Why is he considered an oracle in this space?
busterarm 3y ago
Gygax had fucked off to Hollywood and was too busy fueling his alcohol, cocaine and adultery addictions to spend any time actually running the company. All while TSR was losing money like crazy. The company was barely making 30 million a year while 1.5 billion in debt...in the early 80s. Even then, Gygax's downfall is the result of his own coup, where he ousted Kevin Blume and brought in Lorraine Williams. She bought all of Blume's shares and within about a year removed any control that Gygax had over the company and canceled most of his projects. He resigned a year later.
- jaybrendansmith 3y ago
  Wow I did not know all of THAT was going on. What goes around...
- ChoGGi 3y ago
  Wiki says 1.5 million in debt. Which seems more believable for a company of that size? Thanks for the rabbit hole though, that was an entertaining read.
cmrdporcupine 3y ago
I'll just say it: Jobs being pushed out was the right decision at the time. He was an abusive and difficult personality, the Macintosh was at the time a sales failure, and he played internal team and corporate politics that pit team against team (e.g. Lisa vs Mac) and undermined unity and success. Notable that when he came back, while he was still a difficult personality, the other things didn't happen anymore. Apple after the return of jobs became very good at executing on a single cooperative vision.
jacquesm 3y ago
Jobs was a liability when he was fired and arguably without being fired would have never matured. Formative experience if there ever was one.

0xDEF 3y ago

>responsible board The board was irresponsible and incompetent by design. There is one OpenAI board member who has an art degree and is part of some kind of cultish "singularity" spiritual/neo-religious thing. That individual has also never had a real job and is on the board of several other non-profits.

Doctor_Fegg 3y ago
> There is one OpenAI board member who has an art degree Oh no! Everyone knows that progress is only achieved by people with computer science degrees.
- xvector 3y ago
  People with zero experience in technology should simply not be allowed to make decisions about it. This is how you get politicians that try to ban encryption to "save the children."
  - skywhopper 3y ago
    Why do you assume someone with an art degree has “zero experience with technology”? I assume many artists these days are highly sophisticated users of technology.
    - xvector 3y ago
      And we know politicians use technology too. Yet here we are.
deeviant 3y ago
But they are married to somebody famous, so obviously qualified.

xapata 3y ago

Gygax? The history books don't think much of his business skills, starting with the creation of AD&D as a fiction to avoid paying royalties to Arneson.

fulladder 3y ago

Altman's not going to sue. Right now he has the high ground and the board is the one that looks petty and immature. It would be dumb for him to do anything that reverses this dynamic. Altman is going to move on and announce a new venture in the coming weeks. Whether that venture is in AI or not in AI will be very revealing about what he truly believes are the prospects for the space. Brockman and the others will likely do something new in AI.

jnsaff2 3y ago
> It would be dumb for him to do anything that… I admire you but these days dumb is kinda the norm. Look at the other Sam for example. Really hard to keep your mouth shut and do smart things when you think really highly about yourself.
deeviant 3y ago
Altman is a major investor in the company behind the Humane AI Pin, which, does not inspire confidence for his ability to find a new home for his "brilliance."
- peanuty1 3y ago
  He's also the founder and CEO of WorldCoin.
bmitc 3y ago
> Right now he has the high ground and the board is the one that looks petty and immature. This is an interesting take. Didn't the board effectively claim that he was lying to or misleading them? If that's true, how does someone doing that and being called out on it given them the high ground? By many accounts that have come out, it seems Altman had several schemes in work going against the charter of the non-profit OpenAI. > Whether that venture is in AI or not in AI will be very revealing about what he truly believes are the prospects for the space. Why is he considered an oracle in this space?

busterarm 3y ago

Gygax had fucked off to Hollywood and was too busy fueling his alcohol, cocaine and adultery addictions to spend any time actually running the company. All while TSR was losing money like crazy. The company was barely making 30 million a year while 1.5 billion in debt...in the early 80s. Even then, Gygax's downfall is the result of his own coup, where he ousted Kevin Blume and brought in Lorraine Williams. She bought all of Blume's shares and within about a year removed any control that Gygax had over the company and canceled most of his projects. He resigned a year later.

jaybrendansmith 3y ago
Wow I did not know all of THAT was going on. What goes around...
ChoGGi 3y ago
Wiki says 1.5 million in debt. Which seems more believable for a company of that size? Thanks for the rabbit hole though, that was an entertaining read.

cmrdporcupine 3y ago

I'll just say it: Jobs being pushed out was the right decision at the time. He was an abusive and difficult personality, the Macintosh was at the time a sales failure, and he played internal team and corporate politics that pit team against team (e.g. Lisa vs Mac) and undermined unity and success. Notable that when he came back, while he was still a difficult personality, the other things didn't happen anymore. Apple after the return of jobs became very good at executing on a single cooperative vision.

jacquesm 3y ago

Jobs was a liability when he was fired and arguably without being fired would have never matured. Formative experience if there ever was one.