7 ms·
I don't buy it. If you listen to Sam and Greg, they want to change the world and bring us into a world of abundance that everyone can participate in. They were
by zurfer 3y ago
I don't buy it. If you listen to Sam and Greg, they want to change the world and bring us into a world of abundance that everyone can participate in. They were the ideators of this "awkward non-profit owning a for-profit company".
Microsoft is setup to create shareholder value. That's it.
Both of them will eventually find it moot to advance tech so a few folks get richer.
- MrDresden 3y agoI say this without having really looked into what their latest stance is, but did the fame and money since forming OpenAI perhaps change their initial tune?
- anonymous_sorry 3y ago> Both of them will eventually find it moot to advance tech so a few folks get richer. What does the word "moot" mean in this context?
- cherryteastain 3y agoPointless
- anonymous_sorry 3y agoThanks. In British English it means something like "debatable" or "contested".
- comboy 3y agoYeah I'm surprised about Sam joining MS based on he usually says. But on the other hand, that's a pretty neat move - you fire me - now I own you (simplification, maybe).
- diputsmonro 3y agoActions speak louder than words, and should give you pause to re-evaluate your trust
- dragonwriter 3y ago> If you listen to Sam and Greg, they want to change the world and bring us into a world of abundance that everyone can participate in. Sam is a serial startup (co)founder who has spent additional time at YC -- in the startup world, that kind of talk is so common as to be a stereotype. It's a good way to get people who do care about that kind of stuff to accept equity in a firm that is statistically likely to fail (or, in OpenAI's case, explicitly warns investors that they should not expect profit and treat investments as donations) as compensation when they could earn greater secure compensation from more established firms. It's a great sales pitch, even when there is no truth behind it.
- davedx 3y agoHow is Sam a serial startup founder?
- whatusername 3y agoLoopt, OpenAI, WorldCoin.. how many do you need to be serial?
- Arainach 3y agoIf you believe that, I have a bridge to sell you. Sam's history is full of the worst parts of venture capital and startup mindset. He's only an idealist so far as he's good at selling the ideal outcome and drowning out any criticism.
- ah765 3y agoI think that if Sam had followed the typical VC/Startup playbook (and he even wrote one), he never would have joined OpenAI, a nonprofit based on totally unproven tech at the time. He was already quite rich and powerful from YC, and decided to take a big risk on AI. I think there was at least some genuine idealism involved.
- ulfw 3y agoWell he certainly wouldn't have joined megacorp Microsoft. And yet here we are.
- nopromisessir 3y agoWhat? You think the guy is gonna be a regular c suite exec? They are going to be a special group with special rules. This is so they can build off the existing code base. Only msft has that openai ip. If they go to Google or start their own thing it's rewrite or work off someone else's painting. Not to mention building out compute infrastructure. Big loss of time. Go to msft, get special status, maybe even an exit clause with IP included. Easy win. Was always gonna be msft if not openai negotiated return. I just didn't realize that till satya threw them the offer that worked. These guys didn't sign up to be cogs. Satya respects them.
- nprateem 3y agoMS are minority shareholders in Open AI. What stupid agreements did OpenAI sign to give them IP rights, or are you just making things up? Maybe I should ping all the tech companies I own shares in to get them to send me their IP too
- baq 3y agoHe's selling utopia but you're buying dystopia.
- somenameforme 3y agoThe world, in general, makes so dramatically much more sense if you just completely ignore everything that everybody says, and instead simply look at the actions of people/organizations/nations, and form your own opinions based upon that. This is even more true in modern times when framing things in the 'right way' (even if completely insincerely) can have a major impact on your ventures, funding/investment availability, and more.
- saiya-jin 3y agoThis, anytime, anywhere. Basically what you see these days is PR teams together with legal teams acting like individual that hired them. There are exceptions, but they are outliers in say Trump style, not these billionaires. Same, heck even more for politics. It can be easily transferred into personal or professional relationships. For me at least, this analysis works 100% of the time when for example rest of friends or family struggle hard to understand actions of some individuals. Just point them to their previous actions and see the consistency emerging. This is how you can easily work with various people if you are smart but lack social skills, just observe actions and ignore blah. People simply don't change, they may reflect change in their environment but thats it. Unless we talk about 2 decades+ since last encounter, but even then it may be just more polished PR.
- sensanaty 3y agoAnd if you buy those flowery words from a non-technical startup founder, the same one behind fucking Worldcoin, I've got a few bridges to offload quick and on the cheap.
- Uptrenda 3y agosam wants to change the world by increasing the amount of transferable money that goes directly into his pocket using the most efficient means possible
- LudwigNagasena 3y agoYeah, could someone really do that? Just go on the Internet and tell lies?
- guntherhermann 3y agoIf you believe what people say, instead of what people do, then you are going to be disappointed by many, many people in your life. It's a cliche, but it's true: actions speak louder than words. You are the things you do, not the things you say you want to be.
- cyanydeez 3y agodemagoguery. go read musks public statements leading up to Twitter purchase. it's pretty clear they were fired because of profit motives. that's all I hear.
- creer 3y agoMicrosoft created shareholder value by selling stuff people like. Many techies argue it was the exact wrong thing they were selling and the world would be a better place if MSFT followed rather than led - but there is no arguing that people wanted and used what they were selling. Also it's hard to find a company with more shareholders than MSFT.
- dang 3y agoWe detached this subthread from https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38344458 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=38344458. There's nothing wrong with your post! I just need to prune the heaviest subthreads—sorry!