9 ms·

It’s amazing to me to see people on HN advocate a giant company bullying a smaller one with these kind of skeezy tactics.

by p_j_w 3y ago

geodel 3y ago
Not advocating but just reflecting on reality of situation.
DANmode 3y ago
Don't confuse trying to understand the incentives in a war for rooting for one of the warring parties.
weird-eye-issue 3y ago
Presenting a scenario and advocating aren't the same thing
toomuchtodo 3y ago
Explaining how the gazelle is going to get eaten confidently jumping into the oasis isn't advocating for the crocodiles. See sibling comments. Experience leads to pattern recognition, and this is the tech community equivalent of a David Attenborough production (with my profuse apologies to Sir Attenborough). Something about failing to learn history and repeating it should go here too. If you can take away anything from observing this event unfold, learn from it. Consider how the sophisticated vs the unsophisticated act, how participants respond, and what success looks like. Also, slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Do not rush when the consequences of a misstep are substantial. You learning from this is cheaper than the cost for everyone involved. It is a natural experiment you get to observe for free.
- jacquesm 3y ago
  This is a great comment. Having an open eye towards what lessons you can learn from these events so that you don't have to re-learn them when they might apply to you is a very good way to ensure you don't pay avoidable tuition fees.
- robbomacrae 3y ago
  This might be my favorite comment I've read on HN. Spot on. Being able to watch the miss steps and the maneuvers of the people involved in real time is remarkable and there are valuable lessons to be learned. People have been saying this episode will go straight into case studies but what really solidifies that prediction is the openness of all the discussions: the letters, the statements, and above all the tweets - or are we supposed to call them x's now?
  - jzb 3y ago
    Well, the public posting of some communications that may be obfuscation of what’s really being done and said.
eigenvalue 3y ago
Sounds like it won’t be much of a company in a couple days. Just 3 idiot board members wondering why the building is empty.
- nopromisessir 3y ago
  The wired article seems to be updated by the hour. Now up to 600+/770 total. Couple janitors. I dunno who hasn't signed that at this point ha... Would be fun to see a counter letter explaining their thinking to not sign on.
  - labcomputer 3y ago
    How many OAI are on Thanksgiving vacation someplace with poor internet access? Or took Friday as PTO and have been blissfully unaware of the news since before Altman was fired?
    - nopromisessir 3y ago
      Pretty sure only folks who practice a religion prohibiting phone usage. Even they prob had some friend come flying over and jump out of some autonomous car to knock on their door in sf.
  - wolverine876 3y ago
    You are overlooking the politics: If you don't sign, your career may be over.
    - nopromisessir 3y ago
      I doubt that. This is AAA talent. They can always land elsewhere. I doubt there would even be hard feelings. The team seems super tight. Some folks aren't in a position to put themselves out there. That sort of thing would be totally understandable. This is not a petty team. You should look more closely at their culture.
      - 3y ago
toasted-subs 3y ago
Yeah seems extremely unbelievable.
fennecfoxy 3y ago
Well I think it's also somewhat to do with: people really like the tech involved, it's cool and most of us are here because we think tech is cool. Commercialisation is a good way to achieve stability & drive adoption and even though the MS naysayers think "OAI will go back to open sourcing everything afterwards". Yeah, sure. If people believe that a non-MS-backed, noncommercial OAI will be fully open source and they'll just drop the GPT3/4 models on the Internet then I just think they're so, so wrong and long as OAI are going on their high and mighty "AI safety" spiel. As with artists and writers complaining about model usage, there's a huge opposition to this technology even though it has the potential to improve our lives, though at the cost of changing the way we work. You know, like the industrial revolution and everything that has come before us that we enjoy the fruits of. Hell, why don't we bring horseback couriers, knocker-uppers, streetlight lamp lighters, etc back? They had to change careers as new technologies came about.

It’s amazing to me to see people on HN advocate a giant company bullying a smaller one with these kind of skeezy tactics.

by p_j_w 3y ago

It’s amazing to me to see people on HN advocate a giant company bullying a smaller one with these kind of skeezy tactics.

geodel 3y ago

Not advocating but just reflecting on reality of situation.

DANmode 3y ago

Don't confuse trying to understand the incentives in a war for rooting for one of the warring parties.

weird-eye-issue 3y ago

Presenting a scenario and advocating aren't the same thing

toomuchtodo 3y ago

Explaining how the gazelle is going to get eaten confidently jumping into the oasis isn't advocating for the crocodiles. See sibling comments. Experience leads to pattern recognition, and this is the tech community equivalent of a David Attenborough production (with my profuse apologies to Sir Attenborough). Something about failing to learn history and repeating it should go here too. If you can take away anything from observing this event unfold, learn from it. Consider how the sophisticated vs the unsophisticated act, how participants respond, and what success looks like. Also, slow is smooth, smooth is fast. Do not rush when the consequences of a misstep are substantial. You learning from this is cheaper than the cost for everyone involved. It is a natural experiment you get to observe for free.

jacquesm 3y ago
This is a great comment. Having an open eye towards what lessons you can learn from these events so that you don't have to re-learn them when they might apply to you is a very good way to ensure you don't pay avoidable tuition fees.
robbomacrae 3y ago
This might be my favorite comment I've read on HN. Spot on. Being able to watch the miss steps and the maneuvers of the people involved in real time is remarkable and there are valuable lessons to be learned. People have been saying this episode will go straight into case studies but what really solidifies that prediction is the openness of all the discussions: the letters, the statements, and above all the tweets - or are we supposed to call them x's now?
- jzb 3y ago
  Well, the public posting of some communications that may be obfuscation of what’s really being done and said.

eigenvalue 3y ago

Sounds like it won’t be much of a company in a couple days. Just 3 idiot board members wondering why the building is empty.

nopromisessir 3y ago
The wired article seems to be updated by the hour. Now up to 600+/770 total. Couple janitors. I dunno who hasn't signed that at this point ha... Would be fun to see a counter letter explaining their thinking to not sign on.
- labcomputer 3y ago
  How many OAI are on Thanksgiving vacation someplace with poor internet access? Or took Friday as PTO and have been blissfully unaware of the news since before Altman was fired?
  - nopromisessir 3y ago
    Pretty sure only folks who practice a religion prohibiting phone usage. Even they prob had some friend come flying over and jump out of some autonomous car to knock on their door in sf.
- wolverine876 3y ago
  You are overlooking the politics: If you don't sign, your career may be over.
  - nopromisessir 3y ago
    I doubt that. This is AAA talent. They can always land elsewhere. I doubt there would even be hard feelings. The team seems super tight. Some folks aren't in a position to put themselves out there. That sort of thing would be totally understandable. This is not a petty team. You should look more closely at their culture.
    - 3y ago

toasted-subs 3y ago

Yeah seems extremely unbelievable.

fennecfoxy 3y ago

Well I think it's also somewhat to do with: people really like the tech involved, it's cool and most of us are here because we think tech is cool. Commercialisation is a good way to achieve stability & drive adoption and even though the MS naysayers think "OAI will go back to open sourcing everything afterwards". Yeah, sure. If people believe that a non-MS-backed, noncommercial OAI will be fully open source and they'll just drop the GPT3/4 models on the Internet then I just think they're so, so wrong and long as OAI are going on their high and mighty "AI safety" spiel. As with artists and writers complaining about model usage, there's a huge opposition to this technology even though it has the potential to improve our lives, though at the cost of changing the way we work. You know, like the industrial revolution and everything that has come before us that we enjoy the fruits of. Hell, why don't we bring horseback couriers, knocker-uppers, streetlight lamp lighters, etc back? They had to change careers as new technologies came about.