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> The company will also announce the appointment of three new directors, Sue Desmond-Hellmann, a former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Nicole Sel

> The company will also announce the appointment of three new directors, Sue Desmond-Hellmann, a former CEO of the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Nicole Seligman, a former president of Sony Entertainment, and Fidji Simo, CEO of Instacart, the Information said. This selection of directors seems...random? Is there a business reason for these directors? (aside from the obvious YC link with Instacart)

code51 3y ago
All women, announced on International Women's Day. The only significant side that's obvious.
- DSingularity 3y ago
  We (humans) are so cheap and easily deceived. They pick us large salaries and we build whatever. They pander and we become subservient.
  - nozzlegear 3y ago
    Do you feel that none of them have any merit outside of them being women, and that there was some kind of “best potential OpenAI director” exam that all men are required to take but these three were allowed to skip because of their gender? Is that the deception?
    - jprete 3y ago
      I'm not the GP, but one can believe that it's cheap pandering, and simultaneously that the three of them have merit outside of that pandering. It's not required to be all one or all the other.
      - DSingularity 3y ago
        Yes. I don’t know them to know if they are not qualified — overall I think they are unlikely to be unqualified. What I am saying is it is easy to find qualified stooges. Like I said: pay us humans enough and we build whatever. Note: not all pay is in dollars. Prestige and power are also sought by man. Overall: I am cynical wrt OpenAI. I just don't think that OpenAI is acting in the best interests of humanity and these appointments are strategic decisions taken to prolong survival long enough to execute their strategy and dominate. That was what I was originally insinuating. Technological development keeps intersecting into the space of ethics. Time and time again man proves that he cannot rise above his own personal world views to focus on universal values when developing technology. We’ve seen this repeatedly. These people designing these APIs and building the underlying models are making consequential decisions on behalf of mankind. In a way the world is delegating all this power to unelected individuals who have very little in common — in terms of values and ethics — with mankind at large.
        nozzlegear 3y ago
        > Overall: I am cynical wrt OpenAI. I just don't think that OpenAI is acting in the best interests of humanity For what it's worth, I agree with you on this part. Despite their stated goals and unique corporate structure that supposedly puts the non-profit at the center, I see OpenAI benefiting Sam Altman and Microsoft more than humanity.
    - baking 3y ago
      Well, in the whole brouhaha back in November many people pointed out that two women were forced off the board and replaced with two men.
- deleted 3y ago
  [deleted]
FanaHOVA 3y ago
Non profit / social focus person, media and entertainment person (that NYT suit might be followed by other m&e companies), direct to consumer + "real world digitalization" person.
- swatcoder 3y ago
  Exactly. It's not random, it's revealing. You can see them starting to aim towards their first commercial bets beyond search and developer tools while still paying lip service to the safety cult.
  - coffeebeqn 3y ago
    I still don’t understand the safety concerns. I see a 0% chance that we can control a superhuman AI. What could ants invent to keep humans aligned with them? Alignment meaning that people would think of ants first instead of whatever their current ranking is. Maybe they’re in the top 10000 priorities
    - deleted 3y ago
      [deleted]
    - pests 3y ago
      Can you describe how it would be uncontrollable to us? Everyone says this but no one has any details. Also, > What could ants invent to keep humans aligned with them? I think humans aren't _not_ aligned with ants. I don't go out searching to destroy all ants, or really worry at all, we just kinda coexist.
      - Atotalnoob 3y ago
        There are exterminators and ant infestations
      - jimkleiber 3y ago
        I'd say there's probably more human indifference to ants than anything. Maybe some hatred. Probably not a lot of love.
yterdy 3y ago
Club, ain't in it, etc.
AnotherGoodName 3y ago
You've listed the single previous role but they all have a long long list of achievements in tech? Nothing random about it.
drak0n1c 3y ago
Nicole Seligman's husband Joel Klein famously prosecuted Microsoft with anti-trust in 2001. Time heals all wounds as they say. Interestingly, soon after Seligman left Sony Entertainment in 2016 it started compelling PlayStation devs to censor character depictions and dialog - by 2018 this policy from California HQ was even imposed on long-loyal Japanese studios who made games solely for the Japanese market. I wonder what her opinion is on AI bias/safety given what happened at her old company.
darkwizard42 3y ago
All fairly high profile with experience in non-profit and profit ventures. I only have experience with Fidji who used to be head of the Facebook app and was razor sharp.

code51 3y ago

All women, announced on International Women's Day. The only significant side that's obvious.

DSingularity 3y ago
We (humans) are so cheap and easily deceived. They pick us large salaries and we build whatever. They pander and we become subservient.
- nozzlegear 3y ago
  Do you feel that none of them have any merit outside of them being women, and that there was some kind of “best potential OpenAI director” exam that all men are required to take but these three were allowed to skip because of their gender? Is that the deception?
  - jprete 3y ago
    I'm not the GP, but one can believe that it's cheap pandering, and simultaneously that the three of them have merit outside of that pandering. It's not required to be all one or all the other.
    - DSingularity 3y ago
      Yes. I don’t know them to know if they are not qualified — overall I think they are unlikely to be unqualified. What I am saying is it is easy to find qualified stooges. Like I said: pay us humans enough and we build whatever. Note: not all pay is in dollars. Prestige and power are also sought by man. Overall: I am cynical wrt OpenAI. I just don't think that OpenAI is acting in the best interests of humanity and these appointments are strategic decisions taken to prolong survival long enough to execute their strategy and dominate. That was what I was originally insinuating. Technological development keeps intersecting into the space of ethics. Time and time again man proves that he cannot rise above his own personal world views to focus on universal values when developing technology. We’ve seen this repeatedly. These people designing these APIs and building the underlying models are making consequential decisions on behalf of mankind. In a way the world is delegating all this power to unelected individuals who have very little in common — in terms of values and ethics — with mankind at large.
      - nozzlegear 3y ago
        > Overall: I am cynical wrt OpenAI. I just don't think that OpenAI is acting in the best interests of humanity For what it's worth, I agree with you on this part. Despite their stated goals and unique corporate structure that supposedly puts the non-profit at the center, I see OpenAI benefiting Sam Altman and Microsoft more than humanity.
  - baking 3y ago
    Well, in the whole brouhaha back in November many people pointed out that two women were forced off the board and replaced with two men.
deleted 3y ago
[deleted]

FanaHOVA 3y ago

Non profit / social focus person, media and entertainment person (that NYT suit might be followed by other m&e companies), direct to consumer + "real world digitalization" person.

swatcoder 3y ago
Exactly. It's not random, it's revealing. You can see them starting to aim towards their first commercial bets beyond search and developer tools while still paying lip service to the safety cult.
- coffeebeqn 3y ago
  I still don’t understand the safety concerns. I see a 0% chance that we can control a superhuman AI. What could ants invent to keep humans aligned with them? Alignment meaning that people would think of ants first instead of whatever their current ranking is. Maybe they’re in the top 10000 priorities
  - deleted 3y ago
    [deleted]
  - pests 3y ago
    Can you describe how it would be uncontrollable to us? Everyone says this but no one has any details. Also, > What could ants invent to keep humans aligned with them? I think humans aren't _not_ aligned with ants. I don't go out searching to destroy all ants, or really worry at all, we just kinda coexist.
    - Atotalnoob 3y ago
      There are exterminators and ant infestations
    - jimkleiber 3y ago
      I'd say there's probably more human indifference to ants than anything. Maybe some hatred. Probably not a lot of love.

yterdy 3y ago

Club, ain't in it, etc.

AnotherGoodName 3y ago

You've listed the single previous role but they all have a long long list of achievements in tech? Nothing random about it.

drak0n1c 3y ago

Nicole Seligman's husband Joel Klein famously prosecuted Microsoft with anti-trust in 2001. Time heals all wounds as they say. Interestingly, soon after Seligman left Sony Entertainment in 2016 it started compelling PlayStation devs to censor character depictions and dialog - by 2018 this policy from California HQ was even imposed on long-loyal Japanese studios who made games solely for the Japanese market. I wonder what her opinion is on AI bias/safety given what happened at her old company.

darkwizard42 3y ago

All fairly high profile with experience in non-profit and profit ventures. I only have experience with Fidji who used to be head of the Facebook app and was razor sharp.