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> "Look, the way this works is we're going to tell you it's totally hopeless to compete with us on training foundation models. You shouldn't try, and it's your

> "Look, the way this works is we're going to tell you it's totally hopeless to compete with us on training foundation models. You shouldn't try, and it's your job to try anyway, and I believe both of those things." He’s only saying that he’s not incentivized to make a small and scrappy team compete with OpenAI. I don’t think you should read this as “Sam Altman says small companies will never produce valuable AI models”.

davidt84 2y ago
Why would Sam Altman be incentivised to compete with OpenAI? I don't understand what you're trying to say. But in the end your conclusion is the exact opposite of what he said, and I don't see what justifies that interpretation.
tptacek 2y ago
Yes, this is really weird story, because what he actually said seems like the most banal possible thing for a tech executive to say about the prospect of competition.
- mattmaroon 2y ago
  He was speaking specifically about Indian startups, and he did say they should try anyway, Which means he clearly thought there was some non-zero (but not very non-zero) chance one could succeed. It sort of is the most banal possible thing, and I'm sure he never even would have guessed that comment would have been repeated or been controversial (it was long ago). It's like if Toyota said you couldn't make a dependable car for $5,000 but hey, go try and prove me wrong. It's nothing
josefresco 2y ago
> the VC asks whether a trio of super-smart engineers from India "with say, not $100M, but $10M – could build something truly substantial?" I don't know where you got "incentivized to make a small and scrappy team" - The question was simple and clear, and Sam's response was pretty clear as well. He was/is wrong, and is now finding out. “Sam Altman says small companies will never produce valuable AI models”. sure sounds like "Look, the way this works is we're going to tell you it's totally hopeless to compete with us on training foundation models"

davidt84 2y ago

Why would Sam Altman be incentivised to compete with OpenAI? I don't understand what you're trying to say. But in the end your conclusion is the exact opposite of what he said, and I don't see what justifies that interpretation.

tptacek 2y ago

Yes, this is really weird story, because what he actually said seems like the most banal possible thing for a tech executive to say about the prospect of competition.

mattmaroon 2y ago
He was speaking specifically about Indian startups, and he did say they should try anyway, Which means he clearly thought there was some non-zero (but not very non-zero) chance one could succeed. It sort of is the most banal possible thing, and I'm sure he never even would have guessed that comment would have been repeated or been controversial (it was long ago). It's like if Toyota said you couldn't make a dependable car for $5,000 but hey, go try and prove me wrong. It's nothing

josefresco 2y ago

> the VC asks whether a trio of super-smart engineers from India "with say, not $100M, but $10M – could build something truly substantial?" I don't know where you got "incentivized to make a small and scrappy team" - The question was simple and clear, and Sam's response was pretty clear as well. He was/is wrong, and is now finding out. “Sam Altman says small companies will never produce valuable AI models”. sure sounds like "Look, the way this works is we're going to tell you it's totally hopeless to compete with us on training foundation models"