4 ms·

How good or bad is this for OpenAI?

samspenc 2y ago
A few years ago? Probably catastrophic, he was Chief Scientist after all. Now? Probably not too much, they have enough investment, and additionally talented people wanting to join. I mean, Andrej Karpathy also joined and left OpenAI twice and it didn't impact operations much. I think OpenAI is now where Google was at or just before its IPO, a few key players leaving isn't going to impact them as much as it would have in its earlier founding days, and there is plenty of talent who are ready to jump in to fill the shoes of anyone who leaves.
- cm2187 2y ago
  That may be true in term of engineering, but I think everyone had switched to google as their search engine by then. I am not sure openai has captured the market quite in the same way, as I think people are still mostly experimenting with AI, the integration time in any large company is much slower than the rate of progress of AI. And it's not clear to me that there is much of a vendor lockin to use the openai API vs an equivalent competitor.
  - kranke155 2y ago
    Its not really obvious quite yet that the current gen AI can make money. I dont know that many people who use it, not yet anyway.
lr4444lr 2y ago
Depends on how tight his non-compete is.
- cjbprime 2y ago
  I think those are illegal now. They have been in California for a long time. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/04/ftc-announces-rule-banning-noncompetes https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/04/...
  - brianjking 2y ago
    Could still cover him, no idea though. Via the FTC link: "Existing noncompetes for senior executives - who represent less than 0.75% of workers - can remain in force under the FTC’s final rule, but employers are banned from entering into or attempting to enforce any new noncompetes, even if they involve senior executives. Employers will be required to provide notice to workers other than senior executives who are bound by an existing noncompete that they will not be enforcing any noncompetes against them."
    - zeroonetwothree 2y ago
      Doesn’t matter since CA has broader laws anyway
      - astrange 2y ago
        It's constitutional in CA.
- zeroonetwothree 2y ago
  Non competes are illegal in CA
andsoitis 2y ago
According to Mr Altman’s tweet (https://twitter.com/sama/status/1790518031640347056 https://twitter.com/sama/status/1790518031640347056) they had not just one but TWO of the greatest minds of this generation. After this change they will have only one.
- aleph_minus_one 2y ago
  Sam Altman's tweet only implies that they had >= 2 greatest minds of this generation, and now they have at least one of this breed of people.
  - bamboozled 2y ago
    Two is one and one is none. Not actually sure how much Ilya was doing in the end, but clearly he did a bit, so it's likely a big a loss whatever way you look at it.
spoonjim 2y ago
He is the smartest guy in AI but the sum of OpenAI’s talent is greater than his. But he could easily be the next great advancement in the field.
az226 2y ago
Ilya hasn’t been working on core models for a while. He’s been focused on superalignment. That’s good for the world. Since OpenAI is leading/closest to AGI, it’s the best place to work on superalignment.

A few years ago? Probably catastrophic, he was Chief Scientist after all. Now? Probably not too much, they have enough investment, and additionally talented people wanting to join. I mean, Andrej Karpathy also joined and left OpenAI twice and it didn't impact operations much. I think OpenAI is now where Google was at or just before its IPO, a few key players leaving isn't going to impact them as much as it would have in its earlier founding days, and there is plenty of talent who are ready to jump in to fill the shoes of anyone who leaves.

cm2187 2y ago
That may be true in term of engineering, but I think everyone had switched to google as their search engine by then. I am not sure openai has captured the market quite in the same way, as I think people are still mostly experimenting with AI, the integration time in any large company is much slower than the rate of progress of AI. And it's not clear to me that there is much of a vendor lockin to use the openai API vs an equivalent competitor.
- kranke155 2y ago
  Its not really obvious quite yet that the current gen AI can make money. I dont know that many people who use it, not yet anyway.

lr4444lr 2y ago

Depends on how tight his non-compete is.

cjbprime 2y ago
I think those are illegal now. They have been in California for a long time. https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/04/ftc-announces-rule-banning-noncompetes https://www.ftc.gov/news-events/news/press-releases/2024/04/...
- brianjking 2y ago
  Could still cover him, no idea though. Via the FTC link: "Existing noncompetes for senior executives - who represent less than 0.75% of workers - can remain in force under the FTC’s final rule, but employers are banned from entering into or attempting to enforce any new noncompetes, even if they involve senior executives. Employers will be required to provide notice to workers other than senior executives who are bound by an existing noncompete that they will not be enforcing any noncompetes against them."
  - zeroonetwothree 2y ago
    Doesn’t matter since CA has broader laws anyway
    - astrange 2y ago
      It's constitutional in CA.
zeroonetwothree 2y ago
Non competes are illegal in CA

andsoitis 2y ago

According to Mr Altman’s tweet (https://twitter.com/sama/status/1790518031640347056 https://twitter.com/sama/status/1790518031640347056) they had not just one but TWO of the greatest minds of this generation. After this change they will have only one.

aleph_minus_one 2y ago
Sam Altman's tweet only implies that they had >= 2 greatest minds of this generation, and now they have at least one of this breed of people.
- bamboozled 2y ago
  Two is one and one is none. Not actually sure how much Ilya was doing in the end, but clearly he did a bit, so it's likely a big a loss whatever way you look at it.

spoonjim 2y ago

He is the smartest guy in AI but the sum of OpenAI’s talent is greater than his. But he could easily be the next great advancement in the field.

az226 2y ago

Ilya hasn’t been working on core models for a while. He’s been focused on superalignment. That’s good for the world. Since OpenAI is leading/closest to AGI, it’s the best place to work on superalignment.