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Your post is internally inconsistent. Defining a coup as "any takeover of power" is inconsistent with saying that firing Sam Altman is a coup. CEOs do not have

Your post is internally inconsistent. Defining a coup as "any takeover of power" is inconsistent with saying that firing Sam Altman is a coup. CEOs do not have and should not have any power vis-à-vis the board. It's right there in the name. Executives do not have any right to their position. They are an officer, i.e., an agent of the stakeholders. The idea that the executive is the holder of the power and it's a "coup" if they aren't allowed to remain is disgustingly reminiscent of Trumpian stop-the-steal rhetoric.

gfodor 3y ago
All you’re saying here is that it’s never possible to characterize a board ousting a ceo as a coup. People do, because it’s a useful way to characterize when this happens in the way it did here vs many other ways that involve far less deception and so on.
crazygringo 3y ago
You're ignoring the rest of the definition I provided. I did not say it was "any takeover of power". Please read the definition I gave in full. And I am not referring to the CEO status of Altman at all. That's not the coup part. What I'm referring to is the fact that beyond his firing as CEO, he and the chairman were removed from their board seats, as a surprise planned and executed in secret. That's the coup. This is not a board firing a CEO who was bad at their job; this is two factions at the company where one orchestrates a total takeover of the other. That's a coup. Again, I'm not saying whether this is good or bad. I'm just saying, this is as clear-cut of a coup as there can be. This has nothing in common with the normal firing of a CEO accomplished out in the open. This is four board members removing the other two in secret. That's a coup if there ever was one.
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- torstenvl 3y ago
  > You're ignoring the rest of the definition I provided. That isn't how definitions work. Removals from power that are by surprise and planned in secret are a strict subset of removals from power.
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  - replwoacause 3y ago
    If this wasn’t a coup, what would have made it one?
paulddraper 3y ago
Okay, so a CEO doesn't have any power to seize.... Does the chairman of the board have any power?
- torstenvl 3y ago
  Generally: In their role as a board member, yes, but not in their role as chairman. The power to administer the board is a function of the board itself. This would be no more a coup than the House removing McCarthy as speaker: not at all, because they have a right to choose their leader from among themselves. Specifically: In the case of OpenAI, I don't know if the chairman is elected separately or is chosen by the board from among themselves.

gfodor 3y ago

All you’re saying here is that it’s never possible to characterize a board ousting a ceo as a coup. People do, because it’s a useful way to characterize when this happens in the way it did here vs many other ways that involve far less deception and so on.

crazygringo 3y ago

You're ignoring the rest of the definition I provided. I did not say it was "any takeover of power". Please read the definition I gave in full. And I am not referring to the CEO status of Altman at all. That's not the coup part. What I'm referring to is the fact that beyond his firing as CEO, he and the chairman were removed from their board seats, as a surprise planned and executed in secret. That's the coup. This is not a board firing a CEO who was bad at their job; this is two factions at the company where one orchestrates a total takeover of the other. That's a coup. Again, I'm not saying whether this is good or bad. I'm just saying, this is as clear-cut of a coup as there can be. This has nothing in common with the normal firing of a CEO accomplished out in the open. This is four board members removing the other two in secret. That's a coup if there ever was one.

deleted 3y ago
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torstenvl 3y ago
> You're ignoring the rest of the definition I provided. That isn't how definitions work. Removals from power that are by surprise and planned in secret are a strict subset of removals from power.
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- replwoacause 3y ago
  If this wasn’t a coup, what would have made it one?

paulddraper 3y ago

Okay, so a CEO doesn't have any power to seize.... Does the chairman of the board have any power?

torstenvl 3y ago
Generally: In their role as a board member, yes, but not in their role as chairman. The power to administer the board is a function of the board itself. This would be no more a coup than the House removing McCarthy as speaker: not at all, because they have a right to choose their leader from among themselves. Specifically: In the case of OpenAI, I don't know if the chairman is elected separately or is chosen by the board from among themselves.