20 ms·

"King of the Cannibals": How Sam Altman Took over Silicon Valley

huckleberryfinn 3y ago
https://archive.is/uDR31 https://archive.is/uDR31
ethbr1 3y ago
It's nice to occasionally read a piece that reminds you what good journalism is. On and off record sources, people as complex individuals with multiple truths, anchoring to key chronological events, and only moderate clickbaiting and defensible hyperbole. Nothing particularly new, but a solid brief. Kudos to the Post and Dwoskin, Fisher, and Tiku.
- heeeheeehee 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - ethbr1 3y ago
    Sam Altman is a pretty polarizing figure, seemingly by virtue of both who he is and what he's touched. This article has a lot of pros and cons to the man, all of which seem to track with what other sources have reported about him. E.g. the "if he cares about you you, he really loves you; if he doesn't care about you, you don't exist" brutalist attention filter that a commenter here reported seeing (in one of the ad nauseum OAI CEO threads)
    - heeeheeehee 3y ago
      [flagged]
    - bigbillheck 3y ago
      > both who he is and what he's touched. Not to mention "who he's touched".
- heeeheeehee 3y ago
  [flagged]
- mooktakim 3y ago
  Is it good journalism to watch YouTube interviews and report on that? I would expect they'd go first-hand to various people who know him and dig up stories from the past.
  - ethbr1 3y ago
    They did.
- dartharva 3y ago
  Amusing, the comment just above yours claims how the article is a lovely puff piece
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - ethbr1 3y ago
    My overall impression from this is: highly manipulative but effective leader. Which, seems fair?
IG_Semmelweiss 3y ago
This kind of gives away the reason for his firing. He was pursuing his vision of AI incluing a chipset specific to LLM processing that would break nvidias hold of the market. Apparently the BoD didnt like it. They should have just been more forthcoming about it. Some CEOs would get fired for moonlighting. Others (Elon Musk, etc) build massive companies and make their existing companies more resilient and lasting. The fact that employees closed ranks around him tell you which kind of CEO he is, and the BoD chose to ignore that at their loss
- mdorazio 3y ago
  It seems there's more to it than that [1]. Altman did a surprisingly good job of cultivating a "nice guy" image among the tech crowd, but I personally don't buy it. [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/what-sam-altman-did-so-bad-he-got-fired-openai-2023-12 https://www.businessinsider.com/what-sam-altman-did-so-bad-h...
  - pixelatedindex 3y ago
    [flagged]
    - ethbr1 3y ago
      Apparently, but family drama feels a bit... weird to use for character assessment. Especially when a ton of money is involved. There are a lot of inter-family dynamics and motivations that cause people to do things. Not saying she's right. Not saying he's right. Just saying that whole situation is probably too close to home (literally) to opine globally outside it.
      - heeeheeehee 3y ago
        [flagged]
      - pixelatedindex 3y ago
        I am conflicted about that. When money is involved I think it amplifies character even more. Not everyone with a ton of money has these kinds of allegations.
ycdxvjp 3y ago
[flagged]
TigeriusKirk 3y ago
Asking because I have no idea - What companies were the big wins from Sam's YC time?
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- derekjobst 3y ago
  He became president of YC in 2014. So probably Cruise, W14.
  - ben_jones 3y ago
    Yeah Cruise has been killing lately
    - bitbckt 3y ago
      Too soon.
- jdoliner 3y ago
  Gitlab is a big one.
- ignoramous 3y ago
  Flexport, Brex, Ginkgo, Rappi, Deel, Scale.ai, Rippling, Faire, OpenSea, Razorpay Checkr, Gitlab, Meesho, Monzo, Flock, Retool, IronClad, FlutterWave, Xendit Groww, Jeeves, Solugen, ShipBob, Front, Mux, TruePill, Jasper.ai ... https://www.ycombinator.com/companies?batch=S19&batch=W19&batch=S18&batch=W17&batch=W18&batch=S17&batch=IK12&batch=W16&batch=S16&batch=W15&batch=S14&batch=S15&batch=W14&top_company=true&top_company_by_revenue=true https://www.ycombinator.com/companies?batch=S19&batch=W19&ba...
  - phillryu 3y ago
    I'm surprised I don't recognize a single one of these companies. Isn't YC most famous for companies like AirBNB, Reddit, Twitch, Instacart, Dropbox, Doordash, etc. all things I use and that broke into pop culture? Or is that entirely from pre-Altman era and now it's just all tools for developers?
gumballindie 3y ago
[flagged]
atomjames 3y ago
[flagged]
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
jaggs 3y ago
Wow, what a lovely puff piece. Known as a 'rehabilitator' in PR circles. The conversation: Sama: "I'm getting a bit of knock-back over my management style from various sources." PR Co: "No worries, we'll run a Premium PR package to restore your reputation. A couple of nice pieces in the WashPo and other places and you're good to go." Sama: "Great. Invoice me."
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- selimthegrim 3y ago
  PG even wrote about how to recognize these.
  - pvg 3y ago
    By misidentifying one so perhaps worth taking the supposed prevalence and easy identification of these with a grain of salt.
  - jjtheblunt 3y ago
    https://paulgraham.com/submarine.html https://paulgraham.com/submarine.html
tptacek 3y ago
There's nothing in here you haven't already heard: * He's close with Peter Thiel * He's an ace networker (but, completing the stereotype, is also an introvert) * He left YC, not entirely voluntarily, because he was too committed to OpenAI to do the YC job * Echoing YC, the OpenAI board tried to oust him over concerns that he was being manipulative and pursuing outside interests (a chip firm) that conflicted with the mission The article doesn't seem to have much to say past that. If you go to an Altman house party, you'll apparently get a blanket if you want one. But, like, you'll also get one of those on a Delta flight, so. It feels like people are a bit obsessive about this guy.
- andai 3y ago
  > It feels like people are a bit obsessive about this guy. AI is about to take over the world (for better or worse), and this is the guy in charge of building it.
  - tptacek 3y ago
    Seems to me there are a lot of people in charge of building it.
    - rjzzleep 3y ago
      Seems to me like Sam Altman is really good at making the actual builders believe that they need him to make things happen, and really successful at making the world believe that he was the actual builder. On that note he just posted a thread on how much of a visionary he is. I follow a lot of people on this topic and even at the top of the foodchain there are hundreds of people from all corners of the world competing with each and improving each others work. It's actually really fun and amazing to watch(especially the pace at which it happens) and very different from how Sam portrays it. https://twitter.com/sama/status/1214274038933020672 https://twitter.com/sama/status/1214274038933020672
      - tptacek 3y ago
        Then why do you care? I don't care, even enough to click on that. Why do you? I'm asking seriously.
jampekka 3y ago
Weird CEO cult going on again. Per the article Altman created this and that. In reality thousands of people created the stuff. Altman mostly did some management and marketing.
- ganzuul 3y ago
  I'm not sure what I saw but it looked like India has a pipeline for cult leaders.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- freedomben 3y ago
  We sure love our CEO cults in the startup tech world. I don't understand why we give credit like that for people that high in the management chain, but we sure do.
  - ethbr1 3y ago
    Because there are two kinds of people. (1) People who have actually worked in large tech / engineering companies, and implicitly understand that 'CEO' is a analogy for (the organization) (2) People who have no idea how the sausage is made, and need things simplified down to one person The former aren't misdirected, because they know the game. And the latter probably couldn't wrap their heads around the truth, even if it were explained to them. So I'm not sure anyone who could plausibly understand otherwise is confused by the hero worship. Except for new graduates... they're probably misunderstanding.
throwxu 3y ago
[flagged]

https://archive.is/uDR31 https://archive.is/uDR31

It's nice to occasionally read a piece that reminds you what good journalism is. On and off record sources, people as complex individuals with multiple truths, anchoring to key chronological events, and only moderate clickbaiting and defensible hyperbole. Nothing particularly new, but a solid brief. Kudos to the Post and Dwoskin, Fisher, and Tiku.

heeeheeehee 3y ago
[flagged]
- ethbr1 3y ago
  Sam Altman is a pretty polarizing figure, seemingly by virtue of both who he is and what he's touched. This article has a lot of pros and cons to the man, all of which seem to track with what other sources have reported about him. E.g. the "if he cares about you you, he really loves you; if he doesn't care about you, you don't exist" brutalist attention filter that a commenter here reported seeing (in one of the ad nauseum OAI CEO threads)
  - heeeheeehee 3y ago
    [flagged]
  - bigbillheck 3y ago
    > both who he is and what he's touched. Not to mention "who he's touched".
heeeheeehee 3y ago
[flagged]
mooktakim 3y ago
Is it good journalism to watch YouTube interviews and report on that? I would expect they'd go first-hand to various people who know him and dig up stories from the past.
- ethbr1 3y ago
  They did.
dartharva 3y ago
Amusing, the comment just above yours claims how the article is a lovely puff piece
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
- ethbr1 3y ago
  My overall impression from this is: highly manipulative but effective leader. Which, seems fair?

IG_Semmelweiss 3y ago

This kind of gives away the reason for his firing. He was pursuing his vision of AI incluing a chipset specific to LLM processing that would break nvidias hold of the market. Apparently the BoD didnt like it. They should have just been more forthcoming about it. Some CEOs would get fired for moonlighting. Others (Elon Musk, etc) build massive companies and make their existing companies more resilient and lasting. The fact that employees closed ranks around him tell you which kind of CEO he is, and the BoD chose to ignore that at their loss

mdorazio 3y ago
It seems there's more to it than that [1]. Altman did a surprisingly good job of cultivating a "nice guy" image among the tech crowd, but I personally don't buy it. [1] https://www.businessinsider.com/what-sam-altman-did-so-bad-he-got-fired-openai-2023-12 https://www.businessinsider.com/what-sam-altman-did-so-bad-h...
- pixelatedindex 3y ago
  [flagged]
  - ethbr1 3y ago
    Apparently, but family drama feels a bit... weird to use for character assessment. Especially when a ton of money is involved. There are a lot of inter-family dynamics and motivations that cause people to do things. Not saying she's right. Not saying he's right. Just saying that whole situation is probably too close to home (literally) to opine globally outside it.
    - heeeheeehee 3y ago
      [flagged]
    - pixelatedindex 3y ago
      I am conflicted about that. When money is involved I think it amplifies character even more. Not everyone with a ton of money has these kinds of allegations.

ycdxvjp 3y ago

[flagged]

TigeriusKirk 3y ago

Asking because I have no idea - What companies were the big wins from Sam's YC time?

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
derekjobst 3y ago
He became president of YC in 2014. So probably Cruise, W14.
- ben_jones 3y ago
  Yeah Cruise has been killing lately
  - bitbckt 3y ago
    Too soon.
jdoliner 3y ago
Gitlab is a big one.
ignoramous 3y ago
Flexport, Brex, Ginkgo, Rappi, Deel, Scale.ai, Rippling, Faire, OpenSea, Razorpay Checkr, Gitlab, Meesho, Monzo, Flock, Retool, IronClad, FlutterWave, Xendit Groww, Jeeves, Solugen, ShipBob, Front, Mux, TruePill, Jasper.ai ... https://www.ycombinator.com/companies?batch=S19&batch=W19&batch=S18&batch=W17&batch=W18&batch=S17&batch=IK12&batch=W16&batch=S16&batch=W15&batch=S14&batch=S15&batch=W14&top_company=true&top_company_by_revenue=true https://www.ycombinator.com/companies?batch=S19&batch=W19&ba...
- phillryu 3y ago
  I'm surprised I don't recognize a single one of these companies. Isn't YC most famous for companies like AirBNB, Reddit, Twitch, Instacart, Dropbox, Doordash, etc. all things I use and that broke into pop culture? Or is that entirely from pre-Altman era and now it's just all tools for developers?

gumballindie 3y ago

[flagged]

atomjames 3y ago

[flagged]

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

jaggs 3y ago

Wow, what a lovely puff piece. Known as a 'rehabilitator' in PR circles. The conversation: Sama: "I'm getting a bit of knock-back over my management style from various sources." PR Co: "No worries, we'll run a Premium PR package to restore your reputation. A couple of nice pieces in the WashPo and other places and you're good to go." Sama: "Great. Invoice me."

deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
selimthegrim 3y ago
PG even wrote about how to recognize these.
- pvg 3y ago
  By misidentifying one so perhaps worth taking the supposed prevalence and easy identification of these with a grain of salt.
- jjtheblunt 3y ago
  https://paulgraham.com/submarine.html https://paulgraham.com/submarine.html

tptacek 3y ago

There's nothing in here you haven't already heard: * He's close with Peter Thiel * He's an ace networker (but, completing the stereotype, is also an introvert) * He left YC, not entirely voluntarily, because he was too committed to OpenAI to do the YC job * Echoing YC, the OpenAI board tried to oust him over concerns that he was being manipulative and pursuing outside interests (a chip firm) that conflicted with the mission The article doesn't seem to have much to say past that. If you go to an Altman house party, you'll apparently get a blanket if you want one. But, like, you'll also get one of those on a Delta flight, so. It feels like people are a bit obsessive about this guy.

andai 3y ago
> It feels like people are a bit obsessive about this guy. AI is about to take over the world (for better or worse), and this is the guy in charge of building it.
- tptacek 3y ago
  Seems to me there are a lot of people in charge of building it.
  - rjzzleep 3y ago
    Seems to me like Sam Altman is really good at making the actual builders believe that they need him to make things happen, and really successful at making the world believe that he was the actual builder. On that note he just posted a thread on how much of a visionary he is. I follow a lot of people on this topic and even at the top of the foodchain there are hundreds of people from all corners of the world competing with each and improving each others work. It's actually really fun and amazing to watch(especially the pace at which it happens) and very different from how Sam portrays it. https://twitter.com/sama/status/1214274038933020672 https://twitter.com/sama/status/1214274038933020672
    - tptacek 3y ago
      Then why do you care? I don't care, even enough to click on that. Why do you? I'm asking seriously.

jampekka 3y ago

Weird CEO cult going on again. Per the article Altman created this and that. In reality thousands of people created the stuff. Altman mostly did some management and marketing.

ganzuul 3y ago
I'm not sure what I saw but it looked like India has a pipeline for cult leaders.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]
freedomben 3y ago
We sure love our CEO cults in the startup tech world. I don't understand why we give credit like that for people that high in the management chain, but we sure do.
- ethbr1 3y ago
  Because there are two kinds of people. (1) People who have actually worked in large tech / engineering companies, and implicitly understand that 'CEO' is a analogy for (the organization) (2) People who have no idea how the sausage is made, and need things simplified down to one person The former aren't misdirected, because they know the game. And the latter probably couldn't wrap their heads around the truth, even if it were explained to them. So I'm not sure anyone who could plausibly understand otherwise is confused by the hero worship. Except for new graduates... they're probably misunderstanding.

throwxu 3y ago

[flagged]