4 ms·

Why would Sam Altman be held as someone irreplaceable....the dude seems like a smart guy but c'mon he is not Jobs or Gates. I remember first time hearing him wh

Why would Sam Altman be held as someone irreplaceable....the dude seems like a smart guy but c'mon he is not Jobs or Gates. I remember first time hearing him when he interviewed Zuck about Facebook and entrepreneurship (when he worked for Y Combinator). Now we talk about him as the next Gates or Jobs. I think this was one big marketing stunt from OpenAI, now the whole software and business community talks about them. Big boost in popularity and big downfall for Google when we talk about competing in AI. Sam's biggest mistake was that Worldcoin privacy nightmare but idk what was he thinking about, maybe it was noble idk.

imjonse 3y ago
He probably has powerful connections beyond SV. He and Greg Brockman have been meeting heads of state and he has been fundraising in the Middle East recently. I wouldn't be surprised if he is sold as representing US interests, hence few dare to criticize him openly.
- bugglebeetle 3y ago
  Yeah, it’s hilarious people think you just get to travel around the world and glad-hand heads of state without “friends” among the three-letter folks. And even more so when you’re doing it in the context of selling a technology with quite obvious intelligence service and military applications.
  - mrkramer 3y ago
    >And even more so when you’re doing it in the context of selling a technology with quite obvious intelligence service and military applications. Wasn't Peter Thiel's Palantir meant to be something like military AI for governments to catch threats in the big data. Someone once said that data is the new oil and it's so true, just look at LLMs and OpenAI. That's why Google is held as the world's most powerful data company....not Facebook as a matter of fact.
- mrkramer 3y ago
  He surely has connections in SV(he was even a Reddit CEO for a short time) but he has connections in the politics too as far as I can tell. He is representing US interests? Fine. OpenAI is an American company. This was one big marketing stunt, a balloon to see how the AI community would react. OpenAI is the innovator but the future AI innovations will happen somewhere else, that's what history of innovations teaches us. I remember when Elon said the Google is the biggest threat when it comes to AI, then he founded and funded OpenAI and now here we are.
mock-possum 3y ago
Or is it a big PR stunt for sam? The unfairly maligned genius ceo whose on company fired him for some bullshit reason and then had to publicly embarrass themselves by begging for him to take them back? That makes him look pretty cool - and I didn’t even know who he was a couple weeks ago.
- mrkramer 3y ago
  They wanted it to be something like Apple and Steve Jobs but Jobs was on the another level of computer fanatic.
gardenhedge 3y ago
I don't think it's marketing stunt. I just think there is a lot of incompetent people involved.
screye 3y ago
No one knows when to raise like Sam. Some may say that is his only skill. But, it is valuable skill to have when you are about to be the richest startup of this generation. Same reason top football players contracted with Mino Raiola. A scum bag (or tough/sleazy negotiator depending on how you see it) who can be a scum bag without everyone hating him is an exceedingly rare talent. Sam seems to have it and is valued accordingly.

imjonse 3y ago

He probably has powerful connections beyond SV. He and Greg Brockman have been meeting heads of state and he has been fundraising in the Middle East recently. I wouldn't be surprised if he is sold as representing US interests, hence few dare to criticize him openly.

bugglebeetle 3y ago
Yeah, it’s hilarious people think you just get to travel around the world and glad-hand heads of state without “friends” among the three-letter folks. And even more so when you’re doing it in the context of selling a technology with quite obvious intelligence service and military applications.
- mrkramer 3y ago
  >And even more so when you’re doing it in the context of selling a technology with quite obvious intelligence service and military applications. Wasn't Peter Thiel's Palantir meant to be something like military AI for governments to catch threats in the big data. Someone once said that data is the new oil and it's so true, just look at LLMs and OpenAI. That's why Google is held as the world's most powerful data company....not Facebook as a matter of fact.
mrkramer 3y ago
He surely has connections in SV(he was even a Reddit CEO for a short time) but he has connections in the politics too as far as I can tell. He is representing US interests? Fine. OpenAI is an American company. This was one big marketing stunt, a balloon to see how the AI community would react. OpenAI is the innovator but the future AI innovations will happen somewhere else, that's what history of innovations teaches us. I remember when Elon said the Google is the biggest threat when it comes to AI, then he founded and funded OpenAI and now here we are.

mock-possum 3y ago

Or is it a big PR stunt for sam? The unfairly maligned genius ceo whose on company fired him for some bullshit reason and then had to publicly embarrass themselves by begging for him to take them back? That makes him look pretty cool - and I didn’t even know who he was a couple weeks ago.

mrkramer 3y ago
They wanted it to be something like Apple and Steve Jobs but Jobs was on the another level of computer fanatic.

gardenhedge 3y ago

I don't think it's marketing stunt. I just think there is a lot of incompetent people involved.

screye 3y ago

No one knows when to raise like Sam. Some may say that is his only skill. But, it is valuable skill to have when you are about to be the richest startup of this generation. Same reason top football players contracted with Mino Raiola. A scum bag (or tough/sleazy negotiator depending on how you see it) who can be a scum bag without everyone hating him is an exceedingly rare talent. Sam seems to have it and is valued accordingly.