4 ms·

LOL, you speak as if he's some gamer who just got screamed at on Call of Duty. He is now the 'effective CEO' of OpenAI. He still has to go to work tomorrow, fa

LOL, you speak as if he's some gamer who just got screamed at on Call of Duty. He is now the 'effective CEO' of OpenAI. He still has to go to work tomorrow, faced with an incredibly angry staff who just got their equity vaporized, with majority in open rebellion and quitting to join Microsoft.

qwebfdzsh 3y ago
> got their equity vaporized Did anyone have equity though? I thought they (at least some) had some profit sharing agreements which I assume would only be worth something if OpenAI was ever profitable?
- anonylizard 3y ago
  OpenAI was guaranteed to be profitable, extremely so, if they just continued down the path Sam layed out like a week ago. Now its guaranteed to generate 0 profits, so all that 'profit share/pseudoequity' is worth nothing.
  - edgyquant 3y ago
    > Now its guaranteed to generate 0 profit Literal fan fiction
  - qwebfdzsh 3y ago
    > OpenAI was guaranteed to be profitable, extremely so, Was it though? I'd agree that it was almost guaranteed to have a very high valuation. However profitability is a slightly different matter. Depending on their arrangements/licensing agreements/etc much of those potential profits could've just went to MS/Azure directly.
  - acjohnson55 3y ago
    Developing, training, and running AI models is not cheap, and it's very much an open question of whether the money users are willing to pay covers the cost.
- filmgirlcw 3y ago
  There was a tender offer for employee shares valuing the company at $87b that was pulled because of this. Those would’ve been secondary share purchases by Thrive but gave employees a liquidity event. Now that’s off the table.
ethbr1 3y ago
There was no outcome from this where substantial amounts of equity weren't vaporized. It's difficult to see how that would have been a surprise.
- malfist 3y ago
  What equity?
  - ethbr1 3y ago
    The "there was no equity, because it was a non-profit" argument is stressing the term. At least Microsoft thought it bought something for $13B.
    - JAlexoid 3y ago
      When a wealthy person gives a museum much money and get a seat on the board of trustees - does that also mean that they "bought the museum"?
      - ethbr1 3y ago
        They didn't buy nothing. See things museums and institutions will do for wealthy donors, that they won't do for anyone else.
        JAlexoid 3y ago
        I'm not saying that wealthy donors don't get anything. Wealthy donors don't own the museum, just because they provided funding to the museum. Just as wealthy donors to medical research don't get to own the results of the research their money funded. Just as Microsoft doesn't get to own a part of Linux, for donating to The Linux Foundation. Etc...
        ethbr1 3y ago
        OpenAI is definitely on the "less" side of charity.
matwood 3y ago
> who just got their equity vaporized You've just pointed out the big issue with a non-profit. There is no equity to vaporize, so no one is kept in check with their fantastical whims. You and I can say 'safe AI' and mean completely different things, but profitable next quarter has a single meaning.
- PeterisP 3y ago
  All of the employees work for (and many have equity in ) for a for-profit organization which is owned partially by the non-profit who controls everything and Microsoft. The non-profit is effectively a shell to overview the actual operations and that's it.

qwebfdzsh 3y ago

> got their equity vaporized Did anyone have equity though? I thought they (at least some) had some profit sharing agreements which I assume would only be worth something if OpenAI was ever profitable?

anonylizard 3y ago
OpenAI was guaranteed to be profitable, extremely so, if they just continued down the path Sam layed out like a week ago. Now its guaranteed to generate 0 profits, so all that 'profit share/pseudoequity' is worth nothing.
- edgyquant 3y ago
  > Now its guaranteed to generate 0 profit Literal fan fiction
- qwebfdzsh 3y ago
  > OpenAI was guaranteed to be profitable, extremely so, Was it though? I'd agree that it was almost guaranteed to have a very high valuation. However profitability is a slightly different matter. Depending on their arrangements/licensing agreements/etc much of those potential profits could've just went to MS/Azure directly.
- acjohnson55 3y ago
  Developing, training, and running AI models is not cheap, and it's very much an open question of whether the money users are willing to pay covers the cost.
filmgirlcw 3y ago
There was a tender offer for employee shares valuing the company at $87b that was pulled because of this. Those would’ve been secondary share purchases by Thrive but gave employees a liquidity event. Now that’s off the table.

ethbr1 3y ago

There was no outcome from this where substantial amounts of equity weren't vaporized. It's difficult to see how that would have been a surprise.

malfist 3y ago
What equity?
- ethbr1 3y ago
  The "there was no equity, because it was a non-profit" argument is stressing the term. At least Microsoft thought it bought something for $13B.
  - JAlexoid 3y ago
    When a wealthy person gives a museum much money and get a seat on the board of trustees - does that also mean that they "bought the museum"?
    - ethbr1 3y ago
      They didn't buy nothing. See things museums and institutions will do for wealthy donors, that they won't do for anyone else.
      - JAlexoid 3y ago
        I'm not saying that wealthy donors don't get anything. Wealthy donors don't own the museum, just because they provided funding to the museum. Just as wealthy donors to medical research don't get to own the results of the research their money funded. Just as Microsoft doesn't get to own a part of Linux, for donating to The Linux Foundation. Etc...
        ethbr1 3y ago
        OpenAI is definitely on the "less" side of charity.

matwood 3y ago

> who just got their equity vaporized You've just pointed out the big issue with a non-profit. There is no equity to vaporize, so no one is kept in check with their fantastical whims. You and I can say 'safe AI' and mean completely different things, but profitable next quarter has a single meaning.

PeterisP 3y ago
All of the employees work for (and many have equity in ) for a for-profit organization which is owned partially by the non-profit who controls everything and Microsoft. The non-profit is effectively a shell to overview the actual operations and that's it.