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OpenAI to remove non-profit control and give Sam Altman equity
- habosa 2y agoOnce Sam Altman has consolidated all the power (think: top-10 richest person in the world and control over AGI v0) we’ll find out what he actually wants. And we will hate it.
- EamonnMR 2y agoHis bunker kinda tells me all I need to know.
- minimaxir 2y agoThis is, uh, interesting timing to put it mildly given Mira Murati's departure.
- krick 2y agoI imagine the decision making was in reverse order.
- hackernewds 2y agowhat does that mean?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- ren_engineer 2y agoand apparently removing the cap on returns for investors
- rvz 2y agoProbably now everyone is starting to realize that Sam Altman really is far worse than Elon and everyone was very late to understand this after the coup that happened nearly a year ago. Perhaps this is what Mira, Greg and IIya saw in Sam; his true intentions after that coup. This 'non-profit' / 'for-profit' complication structure + taking capped investment won't be tried again in a very long time after these events.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- peanuty1 2y agoMira was appointed CEO after Sam was fired and she fought to bring back Sam, no? Why are people now saying she was part of the coup that fired Sam?
- Atotalnoob 2y agoThere is a New York Times article that states Mira wrote a memo to the board
- steeeeeve 2y agoThis isn't the first time it happened. It won't be the last. Heck, it's not even the first time Altman pulled it off.
- sylware 2y ago[flagged]
- blackeyeblitzar 2y agoIt’s so weird that the person behind Loopt has now come fully in charge of this company and perverted its initial goals so completely. I’m still not clear on what Sam has accomplished or why he was put in charge of YC or OpenAI. Also apparently chairman of Helion Energy (fusion startup). Masterclass in failing up.
- d--b 2y agoAt this stage though, he has no more place to fail up to!
- rightbyte 2y agoI think it is the same reason rich people throw money after Adam Neumann post Wework. They know it is a con and wanna be part of it. They see themself as alpha-wolfes to badass to be losers. Compare to people that shill as true believers in different strange crypto Ponzi-schemes. They think they are in on it. Being so good that you get in charge of YC, and not fired by PG at all, makes you perfect to meta-morph 'OpenAI' into some dystopian big corp, as seen.
- limit499karma 2y agoHe is an effective bullshit artist with no moral restraint and capital behind the scene promotes and pushes him and his type as they are the perfect match for their role as "captains" of "industry". The 'building' of these fronts is a collaborative effort, with definitive media element of which even HN is likely included.
- elAhmo 2y ago> Since then, OpenAI's board has been refreshed with more tech executives, chaired by Bret Taylor, former Salesforce co-CEO who now runs his own AI startup. Any corporate changes need approval from its nine-person non-profit board. Why would the non-profit board approve a change to a for-profit company? Wouldn't this be against the nature of the non-profit entity that was founded and which they are supposed to govern?
- d--b 2y agoThis reeks of conflicts of interests
- sirspacey 2y agoNo conflict, no interest
- neom 2y agoHere are the board members just to save anyone else looking it up: Bret Taylor (Chair), Sam Altman, Adam D’Angelo, Dr. Sue Desmond-Hellmann, Retired U.S. Army General Paul M. Nakasone, Nicole Seligman, Fidji Simo, Larry Summers and Zico Kolter. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bret_Taylor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bret_Taylor https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sam_Altman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_D%27Angelo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_D%27Angelo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_Desmond-Hellmann https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sue_Desmond-Hellmann https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Nakasone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paul_Nakasone https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicole_Seligman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nicole_Seligman https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidji_Simo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fidji_Simo https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Summers https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lawrence_Summers https://csd.cmu.edu/people/faculty/zico-kolter https://csd.cmu.edu/people/faculty/zico-kolter
- pyinstallwoes 2y ago> In May 2018, he became head of the National Security Agency, the Central Security Service and the United States Cyber Command.
- benreesman 2y agoIf Plucky Nonprofit was OAI-1, and Abruptly Serious AI Lab was OAI-2, And Viable Commercial Product was OAI-3, and Scary Brittle Governance With Creepy NSA Ties was OAI-4, then God Emperor of Arrakis is presumably OAI-5. I figured they’d ship GPT-5 to justify OAI-5, but I guess they’ve realized that they now answer to no one on anything in practical terms. That’s terrifying.
- dalant979 2y agohttps://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/3cs78i/whats_the_best_long_con_you_ever_pulled/cszwpgq/?context=3 https://old.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/3cs78i/whats_the... a historic reminder
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- jarbus 2y agoThis has been an insane, slow, public descent into everything they promised not to do, it’s so crazy to have seen people inside try to stop it
- 7e 2y agoIt's all part of the long con.
- Spacecosmonaut 2y agoIts a bit much to ask for people, in the face of such exceptional wealth prospects, to stay steadfast in their initial commitment.
- limit499karma 2y agoExcuse me but what sort of bullshit is this? Anyone with sufficient intellectual power to grok building AI must be fully aware of the monetization value of the same. If you are navel gazing over AIG taking over humanity you must first step through the stage were capital and AI couple up. So it is not too much to ask since others who also were aware of the inherent unwanted social distortions that was entirely predictable were relying on these individuals and "non-profit" organizations to actually live up to their claims. As it is, it seems like a thinly disguised propaganda to recruit and benefit from altruistic and capable workers in the field to then have Sam Altman (and whoever is behind him $$$) to parachute and take over and say "oh well, you can'tn expect people to be truthful and have principles! What are ya, a chump?"
- hackernewds 2y agoIt is not much to expect people to be good people.
- freetime2 2y agoSeems like a good time for a rebrand to remove "Open" from the name. Maybe "InevitableAI"?
- teleforce 2y agoHow this not in the front page of HN is really beyond me. I asked ChatGPT this simple question and the responses are really commendable and a bit hilarious: Prompt: Since OpenAI the owner of the ChatGPT has removed non-profit control of OpenAI and gave Sam Altman equity what is the more appropriate alternative name to OpenAI now? Answers: Given the shift in OpenAI's structure from a non-profit to a more profit-oriented model, a name like "AltmanAI" could be seen as more reflective of its current leadership and business model. Alternatively, something like "ProfitAI" or "EquityAI" could highlight the focus on profitability and equity distribution, though these might come across as blunt or satirical. However, if the goal is to preserve a sense of innovation and artificial intelligence leadership while reflecting the new profit-driven focus, names like "InnovativeAI" or "EnterpriseAI" could also work. These names could better align with the organization's current direction while maintaining a forward-thinking brand identity.
- krick 2y ago> a name like "AltmanAI" could be seen as more reflective of its current leadership and business model Damn, that's harsh. And Musk said it cannot joke.
- tmikaeld 2y agoIt can’t, it’s the most likely answer to the question based on what it knows. Which kind of makes it funnier
- benreesman 2y agoI also find it curious if not distressing that this wasn’t pinned at #1 all day. To be clear: I’m quite sure that @dang is deeply committed to running a clean shop on moderation. But whether something highly unlikely and slightly sensational like a finger on the scales, or the far more likely and utter banal explanation that people in vast numbers see their fates as intertwined with the status quo, the result is the same: on some deep institutional level HN is never going to hold Altman to account. So the question becomes, what authority handles the cases the community can’t? On paper that’s regulators and legislators. Those folks ostensible and actual missions aren’t identical, and differ more with time, but they intersect at “prevent would-be autocrats being so brazen as to provoke de facto revolt”. The public doesn’t hate Big Tech generally and its sociopath fringe specifically enough to make it a true wedge issue yet, but it’s trending that way. I’d go so far as to say that most almost anyone breathing the Bay air isn’t capable of truly internalizing how deeply the general public loathes the modern Valley machine: it’s dramatically more than Wall St at any time. It’s getting even trickier than usual to predict which historical social norms are still bright lines, but “profiting personally via using a charity as a vehicle for fraud” is still putting popular people in prison with bipartisan support. And Altman isn’t popular even here. He’s feared here, but loved almost nowhere.
- lysace 2y agoIt is weird that I get this news item from my local general interest newspaper in Europe but not from the HN front page, isn't it? Posted another source (https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41653028 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41653028) since I feel this needs a discussion. This one has a more descriptive headline though.
- blackeyeblitzar 2y agoYes very weird this isn’t on the front page
- booleanbetrayal 2y agoI also am a bit mystified as to why this isn't trending to the front.
- NewJazz 2y agoNot sure, but HN might down weight reuters due to paywall, and this story seems to be a Reuters-exclusive.
- tazu 2y agoIt's probably because of the poorly-designed "flamewar detector" that censors posts if they are upvoted/downvoted too quickly. @dang explained it to me a few weeks ago[1] on another YC-related post that conveniently got scrubbed from the front page. [1]: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41510285 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41510285
- freetime2 2y agoCurrently there is another OpenAI story on the front page about about Mira Murati leaving [1], and a couple of comments there are also talking about this news of OpenAI removing non-profit control [2] [3]. I tend to agree that this is the bigger story and more worthy of being on the front page, but HN tends to enjoy a bit of celebrity gossip so not surprising to me that the news of the CTO leaving would get more traction. I don't think it's any sort of conspiracy if that's what you're implying. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41651038 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41651038 [2] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41653013 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41653013 [3] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41651601 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=41651601
- Stem0037 2y agoI'm a bit concerned about how this might impact their commitment to AI safety though. The non-profit structure was supposed to be a safeguard against profit-driven decision making. Will they still prioritize responsible AI development as a regular for-profit company?
- mewpmewp2 2y agoDepends how they predict it to affect their bottom line.
- tivert 2y ago> I'm a bit concerned about how this might impact their commitment to AI safety though. Their commitment will remain unparalleled, because AI safety actually means doing whatever it takes to provide maximum return to the shareholders, no matter the social cost.
- ericzawo 2y agolmao what do you think?
- ac130kz 2y agoClosedAI
- tim333 2y agoThat Sam is a shifty one. Here's him 4 months ago: “It's so deeply unimaginable to people to say i don’t really need more money... If I were to say I'm going to try and make a trillion dollars with OpenAI it would save a lot of conspiracy theories” And now having turned OpenAI into closed AI he's trying to give himself $10bn in equity.
- superultra 2y agoThis felt inevitable which is why it’s not front page everywhere. It also doesn’t help that we’re in a bit of a lull with AI. I was with friends who don’t work in tech and AI came up in conversation at dinner. The general consensus is that AI is kinda dumb but it does a great job helping everyone write nicer emails. But I don’t think I’m being alarmist when I say that this moment, when the altruistic ideals get suddenly pushed to the side, may be the moment noted in history books before whatever it is that this leads us to happens. I don’t mean evil machines are next, but I do think it’s a cotton gin, telegram over the ocean, light bulb, AARPNET moment. Maybe even more impactful than those. Manhattan project? TBD I guess. Which is why I believe we’ll regret that we didn’t move slower or enforce more collective stop gaps behind the unbridled force of capitalism and the public goodwill. I’m not a doomsayer but you can’t tell me something isn’t up when this much money is involved.
- auggierose 2y agoWould you have recommended moving slower to build the first atom bomb?
- consteval 2y agoYes. We used those bombs for evil beyond our comprehension. I encourage all Americans to further research Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Our propaganda has told us our war crimes were completely justified, but a more neutral historical analysis reveals this isn't the case.