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OpenAI Welcomes Sarah Friar (CFO) and Kevin Weil (CPO)
- spacecadet 2y agoSo long "Open" AI, this screams more push to turn a profit. Maybe had they hired leaders in the scientific fields it would read differently, but a cash flow perp and a top tier product owner? (tho instagram? woof don't count that as a win except a win for greed).
- iandanforth 2y agoI'm amazed they were able to pull from Planet. As impressive as OpenAI is, Planet is such a stellar company with the right mix of good intentions/impact and profitable product market fit that it's hard to imagine a better place to work right now. That said, maybe Planet's success made it less attractive to someone looking to take on new and monumental challenges.
- r_thambapillai 2y agoreally interesting to see them hire two folks from consumer-tech backgrounds, rather than B2B or developer tools. I wonder if that signals an increasing focus on ChatGPT as a consumer product rather than the API / Enterprise products? (Edit: Sarah actually has a background in both Enterprise and Consumer)
- ttul 2y agoIn my opinion, OpenAI is building a platform business [1]. OpenAI is primarily an innovation platform. It provides tools, models, and APIs that enable developers and businesses to create new applications and services, fostering a wide ecosystem of innovation where OpenAI’s technology is the beating heart, driving high-margin revenue. While it also sells API access, its main role aligns with enabling third-party innovation, similar to platforms like Microsoft and Google Android. However, driving third-party innovation does not relieve OpenAI of the need to create consumer-facing applications like ChatGPT. If OpenAI was to remain exclusively a back-end API business, it would be leaving itself vulnerable to disintermediation as competition from other model providers like Meta enable swapping out the back end. I believe Kevin was brought in to make sure OpenAI has its own relevant front end innovation so that disintermediation is less of a threat. [1] https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=56021 https://www.hbs.edu/faculty/Pages/item.aspx?num=56021
- hackerlight 2y agoWhy does the existence of ChatGPT reduce the risk of disintermediation?
- ttul 2y agoBy creating the best chat interface for its own models - presumably using capabilities that may not be shared with others via APIs - OpenAI ensures that their world class model is harder to replace.
- sangnoir 2y ago> In my opinion, OpenAI is building a platform business [1]. OpenAI is primarily an innovation platform. It provides tools, models, and APIs that enable developers and businesses to create new applications and services, fostering a wide ecosystem of innovation where OpenAI’s technology is the beating heart, driving high-margin revenue. This could have been a description of Facebook circa 2010, for a brief moment, everyone was happy with the arrangement. Inevitably, the platform will start competing with the developers who "innovate" on top of it in order to gain additional revenue; see 2024 Facebook which is no longer a platform by most measures, or the many apps that got Sherlocked by Apple. The countdown clock has started ticking for OpenAI-wrapper products/startups, starting with the ones with the most revenue and/or utility.
- pphysch 2y agoSo OpenAI is going to compete directly with Azure, as a PaaS/IaaS? Doesn't make sense. At best they will be a thin layer over Azure.
- rileyphone 2y agoIn this case Azure is responsible for the datacenters, billing, and support.
- chaos_emergent 2y agoThis is the most insightful nugget into OAI's consumer product strategy I've read, thank you.
- babyyoda 2y agoThought the same when I read - and honestly I think the larger growth vector for OpenAI is their B2B and API potential. But good product leaders can span both, but curious none-the-less
- ishtintheus 2y agowho cares.. everything US and everything OpenAI is incredibly overblown
- erehweb 2y agoCurious choice re Sarah Friar - was Nextdoor that successful? Or is this more based on her Square work?
- mjamil 2y agoSarah was well respected at Square as the CFO, and left when it was obvious Jack wouldn't give up the CEO role.
- mi_lk 2y agoWould sama?
- peterdobs 2y ago[dead]
- ilrwbwrkhv 2y agoNo but CFO at Open AI >>>>> CFO at Square. It's like being CFO of Etsy (Square is). Ok I guess, but not epic (which Open AI is).
- mupuff1234 2y agoBut if you actually believe they'll be super AI in a year or two, why even bother with a product till then? Seems like the only focus should be getting there first. Unless of course you don't actually believe that.
- AlwaysRock 2y agoYou think you need 7 trillion dollars to build chips to make that AI? You think you need a product that is appealing so you remain the market leader while you build that AI? You believe you'll build the super AI but your investors want something more than, "its coming" for the next few years? You come from a background of building products and you want to build a product? Seems like a lot of reasons why you would build a product, even if you think you're build a super AI.
- crowcroft 2y agoI think even the most bullish e/acc AI fanatic is probably not 100% sure AGI will be developed in a year or two, and so even in the most optimistic case you would want to hedge your bets.
- pton_xd 2y agoMaybe not a year or two but the e/acc fanatics I know are 99.9% convinced its happening within the next 4-5. As in, anything short of World War 3 and it's happening. Maybe even still happening.
- RhodesianHunter 2y agoThese don't seem like the brightest bulbs.
- throwanem 2y agoOf course they're convinced. They're rubes. That's their job.
- rrr_oh_man 2y agoThe way OpenAI protect their IP suggests to me that the USP is not that U.
- trybackprop 2y agoIt looks like Silicon Valley really values the experience of execs from Instagram: OpenAI CPO: Kevin Weil, Instagram VP of Product 2016-2018 [1] Anthropic CPO: Mike Krieger, Instagram Cofounder and CTO 2010-2018 [2] OpenAI VP Consumer Product: Peter Deng, Instagram Head of Product 2013-2015 [3] [1] https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinweil/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/kevinweil/ [2] https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikekrieger/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/mikekrieger/ [3] https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterxdeng/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/peterxdeng/
- nicce 2y agoLot's of experience how to make money with data :)
- reducesuffering 2y agoI can't think of another consumer software product as successful in users and $ as Instagram in the '10s.
- eternal_braid 2y agoThe Instagram mafia.
- throw46365 2y agoHonest question: Do they not each worry they are each, in their own way, going to be Linda Yaccarino?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- rrr_oh_man 2y agoIn what way?
- bt3 2y agoI think he's insinuating that with a figurehead such as Sam Altman, that Sarah and Kevin might be more showpieces than given autonomy to operate.
- throw46365 2y agoI'm not insinuating. I'm asking. It's a pretty reasonable question for both of them. Perhaps more for the CFO, given what we know of Altman's, er, lack of candour with the board where money is concerned. But maybe given the "Her" debate it applies to both of them, in different ways. Is this a company where the executives can really be more than rubber stamps?
- diego_sandoval 2y agoI don't think anyone in an executive position cares about the Her "debate". It's Twitter-level gossip.
- dylan604 2y agoYeah, they don't care so much that there were direct follow ups to the up roar
- 2y ago
- jdross 2y agoFor those not in the know, these are two of the most highly regarded operators in the Valley (if not as well known). Sarah was thought of as the person who "ran" Square, and Kevin is thought of as one of the strongest product leaders. They'd both be in my top 3 worldwide hires I'd try to make for these roles.
- davidguetta 2y agoWhos the third ?
- mupuff1234 2y agoNextdoor shares don't look like they did too well under her management.
- itsoktocry 2y ago>Nextdoor shares don't look like they did too well under her management. Isn't it fair to look at share price under their leadership? What other objective measures do we have of their management abilities? We take the OP's word for it that they're the best? Or is this like sports teams recycling the same 30 coaches?
- zer00eyz 2y ago> Or is this like sports teams recycling the same 30 coaches? This. The valley is nothing but a machine. Feed young engineers in one end and spit unicorns out the other. The same players make it all go.
- DoubleDerper 2y agoI don't think she's someone to be admired. Being ceo of an app that is IMO rife with bigotry, xenophobia, and scare mongering.
- austhrow743 2y agoAren’t those things the point of the app?
- ipqk 2y agoIs this what caused AAPL stock to drop ~$3 rapidly? (mostly recovered since then)
- Dig1t 2y agoWWDC is today, any major stock price movement is almost certainly due whatever they are announcing.
- ipqk 2y agoYes, I know, I was tracking the stock while watching WWDC. But there was a very sudden precipitous fall right when this was announced.
- cmcclellan 2y agoI also went to the bathroom around that time, so maybe that had an impact?
- dylan604 2y agoIt only counts if you're placing buy/sell orders based on your breaks.
- rvnx 2y agoWe expected to have Apple unveiling world-class local models, and announcement of a framework where you can train and run your models in M4. And we got a wrapper around ChatGPT 4 + a cloudy-ish dystopian spyware-like copy of Copilot+ that sends your screenshots and activity to a "secure cloud".
- jorblumesea 2y agoso tl;dr open api sees itself as a platform business and is hiring top level platform leaders to fill out their space. Kevin known mainly for his work at Instagram and Sarah for her work at Square. Also implies that agi and some of the broader ideas might not come online for a few years.
- Mxmilan 2y ago[dead]
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- OutOfHere 2y agoDo these people actually even believe in AI? If not, they're there solely for the financialization and value-extraction, which means it goes downhill from here.
- zer00eyz 2y ago> Do these people actually even believe in AI? The moment that every one who gave a shit about safety quit OpenAI you should have understood that there was no AI coming. This has always been, and will always be about the money.
- RhodesianHunter 2y agoImplying that these people quite because they realized they weren't needed (no need for safety if AI isn't coming) rather than what seems like the common perspective being that safety initiatives always lost out over money making opportunities?
- zer00eyz 2y agoRewind the clock a few years. The google engineer who was saying google had AGI. The MS paper saying GPT had hints of AGI. The MS deal "you can have everything up to AGI". The approach was one where a big enough model could be made to feed back in on it self (Q*). If we feed enough data into a big enough model then it will "tip over" and turn into AGI, or sentient or sapient... The problem is that this doesn't work, it never would have worked, the math does not support it. Pointing it back at it self doesn't get you more it gets you an ouroboros. Why do you sign a deal "up to AGI" if you dont think you're close to AGI? They did, they were high on their own supply, reality set in, people look foolish, and they moved on.
- voiceblue 2y agoSeems to me like you’d be more likely to sign a deal “up to AGI” if you knew that was a pipe dream that would never happen. It’s easy to sign away your firstborn child if you’ll never have any children to begin with. Edit: Nevermind, looks like it's just a way to hype then!