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They didn't seem to mind him running Worldcoin though. Doing two (several) jobs problem came later and this explanation doesn't really address this. Personally

They didn't seem to mind him running Worldcoin though. Doing two (several) jobs problem came later and this explanation doesn't really address this. Personally I don't care if pg is completely honest or if sam was fired or not. It doesn't have meaningful impact on my view of either.

rco8786 2y ago
The tweet specifically says "if he was going to run OpenAI full-time ..". Sounds like they were fine with him moonlighting other projects, Worldcoin, OpenAI as a non-profit, but if YC wasn't going to be his primary "full-time" focus then he would need to choose. Feels entirely reasonable.
- tomhoward 2y ago
  > Sounds like they were fine with him moonlighting other projects Even that’s not quite right. OpenAI had been a research project inside YC. So there was no “moonlighting” about it (and Worldcoin started around the same time Sam left YC). It seems everyone accepted that things qualitatively changed when OpenAI stopped being a non-profit research project inside YC to becoming a for-profit venture, and they just had an adult conversation about it.
  - scarmig 2y ago
    Was OpenAI at all affiliated with YC? I think they were entirely independent organizations.
    - tomhoward 2y ago
      OK, it was independent but established with funding from YC Research and Jessica (among others including Sam himself and Elon) and initially operating from YC office space. So it was always something that was closely linked to YC and his involvement with it was generally accepted as being harmonious with his role running YC, until it became for-profit. Details here: https://www.wired.com/2015/12/how-elon-musk-and-y-combinator-plan-to-stop-computers-from-taking-over/ https://www.wired.com/2015/12/how-elon-musk-and-y-combinator...
schrodinger 2y ago
I haven’t ever heard of worldcoin but ChatGPT has actually made it to the average person’s lexicon, and been covered in the NYTimes repeatedly. Surely some non jobs take more effort than others…
s1artibartfast 2y ago
Sometime things becomes a problem when they start having practical impacts. Not everything is a matter of principle
tomhoward 2y ago
> They didn’t seem to mind him running Worldcoin though He left YC in March 2019. Worldcoin was formed in 2019.
- CalChris 2y ago
  Crunchbase says the WorldCoin seed round was January 2019. https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/worldcoin/investor_financials https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/worldcoin/investor_f...
  - tomhoward 2y ago
    Right, so, no evidence that they had no problem with him running Worldcoin. It could all have been part of the “Sam now has too much on his plate to adequately focus on YC” conversation.

rco8786 2y ago

The tweet specifically says "if he was going to run OpenAI full-time ..". Sounds like they were fine with him moonlighting other projects, Worldcoin, OpenAI as a non-profit, but if YC wasn't going to be his primary "full-time" focus then he would need to choose. Feels entirely reasonable.

tomhoward 2y ago
> Sounds like they were fine with him moonlighting other projects Even that’s not quite right. OpenAI had been a research project inside YC. So there was no “moonlighting” about it (and Worldcoin started around the same time Sam left YC). It seems everyone accepted that things qualitatively changed when OpenAI stopped being a non-profit research project inside YC to becoming a for-profit venture, and they just had an adult conversation about it.
- scarmig 2y ago
  Was OpenAI at all affiliated with YC? I think they were entirely independent organizations.
  - tomhoward 2y ago
    OK, it was independent but established with funding from YC Research and Jessica (among others including Sam himself and Elon) and initially operating from YC office space. So it was always something that was closely linked to YC and his involvement with it was generally accepted as being harmonious with his role running YC, until it became for-profit. Details here: https://www.wired.com/2015/12/how-elon-musk-and-y-combinator-plan-to-stop-computers-from-taking-over/ https://www.wired.com/2015/12/how-elon-musk-and-y-combinator...

schrodinger 2y ago

I haven’t ever heard of worldcoin but ChatGPT has actually made it to the average person’s lexicon, and been covered in the NYTimes repeatedly. Surely some non jobs take more effort than others…

s1artibartfast 2y ago

Sometime things becomes a problem when they start having practical impacts. Not everything is a matter of principle

tomhoward 2y ago

> They didn’t seem to mind him running Worldcoin though He left YC in March 2019. Worldcoin was formed in 2019.

CalChris 2y ago
Crunchbase says the WorldCoin seed round was January 2019. https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/worldcoin/investor_financials https://www.crunchbase.com/organization/worldcoin/investor_f...
- tomhoward 2y ago
  Right, so, no evidence that they had no problem with him running Worldcoin. It could all have been part of the “Sam now has too much on his plate to adequately focus on YC” conversation.