5 ms·
I read this article perhaps two or three years ago and it's one of the reasons I always had a slightly negative view of Sam Altman because he comes off as just
by bartread 3y ago
I read this article perhaps two or three years ago and it's one of the reasons I always had a slightly negative view of Sam Altman because he comes off as just slightly insufferable (that whole Bronze Age sword sequence, for example).
I don't necessarily think that was absolutely without merit: one tires of CEOs and SV types who think too much of themselves and don't attribute enough of their success to simply being in the right place at the right time and knowing the right people (not to entirely discount their undeniable talents and abilities, of course).
I wouldn't necessarily say the past few days have radically altered my view but I do find it striking that so many OpenAI employees broke cover to come out in support of him. It's certainly given me pause for further reflection and underscored that you just don't really know someone from simply reading about them, or reading interviews with them. So much of our understanding of individuals comes from spending time with them and from non-verbal cues.
Still, I've known others who have done things similar to the Bronze Age sword thing and, overall, I don't recommend these stunts: you inevitably come off as out of touch and a bit of a tool.
- mymusewww 3y ago[flagged]
- stillwithit 3y agoAgreed. Most LARP observed speaking norms (how many CEOs have you worked under who all sound the same; hacking our biological feedback loops with platitudes and euphemisms, “billion dollar industry to claim for ourselves!” babble) and rely on old money networking, paying engineers to model data; they lack skills to create net new and schmooze with old wealth. IMO Sam is one of those CEOs. He’s knows the semantic games, but his list of novel accomplishments is as long as my dogs, who also just follows along with elders demands. Really not all that impressed. OpenAI employees look even worse now, concerned with network access via one of the billionaires classes Special Boys. Sam once Tweeted we’re all stochastic parrots, incapable of knowing where we’re going or whether it’s worthwhile to go there. Admission enough to me he sees things as pointless pageantry to exploit.
- vasco 3y agoIt must be tiring to live in absolutes.
- mymusewww 3y agoIt must be whatever to be vague about things.
- mymusewww 3y ago[flagged]
- JumpCrisscross 3y agoI mean, let’s start here. Communication and self control. Would pick literally any of the Fortune 100 as exceeding this threshold.
- samspenc 3y ago'Only a Sith deals in absolutes' - Obi Wan to Anakin
- sterlind 3y agoisn't that an absolute too, though?
- leesec 3y agoIf it's so easy you should go become one.
- neom 3y agoJack Dangermond
- api 3y agoAs with engineering: “if it looks easy, you don’t know much about it.”
- chollida1 3y agoSataya Nadalla Mark Benioff Reed Hastings Warren Buffet Jensen Huang Jamie Dimon Benard Arnualt Mary Bara Safra Catz David I. McKay How many do you want? The world is full of talented CEO's. I can't claim to know all the CEO's around the world but the above have all been exceedingly good over their terms. Whose on your list?
- denverllc 3y agoIf I were an OpenA employee, I too would come out for Sam Altman. Why? The board was reckless. They couldn’t point to anything that he had done to warrant this, and went radio silent after their decision. Sam seems shrewd. I know the value of my shares will go up with him. So I’d vote for him. That wouldn’t mean I like him or support him, just that I’d be voting in my own best interest.
- akamaka 3y agoI would be incredibly embarrassed about this if I were an OpenAI employee. Instead of making a statement of the broader principles they stand for and supporting a process of reconciling the differences between the board of directors, they abandoned any independence and rushed to daddy Microsoft to fix the problem for them.
- maxglute 3y ago> I know the value of my shares will go up with him. I haven't followed the situation as closely as others, but it does seem like board structured to not have 7 figure cheques to undermine safety incentive seemingly willing to let openAI burn out of dogma. Employees want their 7 figure cheques, their interests aligned with larger powers with 10 figures on the line. Reporting so far have felt biased accordingly.
- iwontberude 3y agoIf the employees truly came together to collectively bargain why wouldn’t they unionize at the same time to protect against similar abuses by the board in the future?
- voxic11 3y agoThis collective action seems like it was effective enough and achieved its stated goals. Why introduce yet another permanent layer of bureaucracy and politics at your company if you can achieve your goals without it?
- Normal_gaussian 3y agoWell structured unions have a board seat; this would likely have avoided this issue in the first place. This action, by both the board and the employees, is the result of poor communication. It has caused non-trivial damage to the organisation, internally and externally. It is highly desirable for everyone involved for this level of disruption not to happen again.
- deleted 3y ago[deleted]
- ETH_start 3y agoCollective bargaining permanently puts the management and other prospective employees at a disadvantage, with their contract liberty limited by government fiat, as a result of a mandate for the employer to negotiate with the union to the exclusion of all other parties. It is generally associated with less performant companies, which is not in the interests of those employed in a rapidly growing company.
- dasmascusstuui 3y ago[dead]