4 ms·

Why can't someone ask what happened in Ilya's mind. Firing Sam and then signing the solidarity letter of Sam to leave OpenAI if was fired. Other than that, all

Why can't someone ask what happened in Ilya's mind. Firing Sam and then signing the solidarity letter of Sam to leave OpenAI if was fired. Other than that, all other information seems kind of just going over the surface.

tasuki 5mo ago
Yes, that, please! I also never understood why the board resigned after ousting Sam...
- tyre 5mo ago
  Because they lost and crumbled. They were unbelievably outmatched by Sam (a world-class manipulator) and Satya (the money behind OpenAI and himself a political genius.) They were outmaneuvered, panicked, and folded. Did they have to? No. But in the moment they thought they were on the precipice of nuking a deca-billion dollar company, their life’s greatest work, and a generational company. It’s hard to stand against what they did. Unsurprising they couldn’t.
  - YetAnotherNick 5mo ago
    Then they should have made the position clear to the public, or at the very least have some communication with the employees. It's not hard to say that they were against Sam for some particular reason, if they are firing him. At least if the reason is good that might have given them some credibility. And why did Ilya become Sam lover after 2 days?
    - rfv6723 5mo ago
      The employees are on Sam's side. Employees works for money and Sam brought money in.
      - YetAnotherNick 5mo ago
        This is so obviously wrong I don't know how this theory got popular. OpenAI had everything from compute to brand name to contracts. Sam wasn't the reason the money was coming, employees and OpenAI were. Even if Sam bought them money, board could still tell the reason of firing Sam rather than keeping it a secret. And why did Ilya flip? He doesn't have much to gain by being in non profit when he could get more money elsewhere.
        Recursing 5mo ago
        At the time gwern alleged it was because of Brockman's wife https://old.reddit.com/r/MachineLearning/comments/181o1q4/comment/kaduioa/ https://old.reddit.com/r/MachineLearning/comments/181o1q4/co...
        Keyframe 5mo ago
        Wow, emotions and all. These people should never be anywhere near dangerous technology such as advanced AI. Luckily, neither of them seem to be anymore since openAI lost its leading (technical) edge to other companies.
        sourcecodeplz 5mo ago
        People are people, same everywhere, emotions and all.
    - maplethorpe 5mo ago
      > Then they should have made the position clear to the public From what I understand, their legal counsel advised them not to speak publicly. Being inexperienced in this sort of political game, they thought they were doing the right thing.
      - Ey7NFZ3P0nzAe 4mo ago
        I just want to point out that it was the company's legal counsel I believe. Hence the "right thing" was only the right thing for the company. Not necessary for the greater good or their conscience.
    - jstummbillig 4mo ago
      I mean this in the best sense possible: Ilya is obviously a very strange human being. People seem to always entirely ignore this when discussing what happened at OpenAI and I feel including it serves well when trying to explain much of what happened.
  - paulddraper 5mo ago
    > It’s hard to stand against what they did. It’s still unclear at what happened, to make Sam unfit to be the CEO.
cma 5mo ago
Part of the counter was Microsoft was going to try and hire everyone individually, compensating for the lost stock appreciation, without the org itself, if they went through with maintaining the firing. I think that could have been much harder to pull off, but maybe they made them believe it was an inevitable outcome.
krackers 5mo ago
>what happened in Ilya's mind I thought Ronan Farrow's investigate essay answered that pretty satisfactorily? https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/04/13/sam-altman-may-control-our-future-can-he-be-trusted https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/04/13/sam-altman-may...
- wdr1 5mo ago
  It's paywalled. Could you recap for us?
  - krackers 5mo ago
    https://archive.is/c7YNw https://archive.is/c7YNw - it's worth a read, summarizing his writing would be a disservice
    - baobabKoodaa 4mo ago
      Infinite recaptcha loop

tasuki 5mo ago

Yes, that, please! I also never understood why the board resigned after ousting Sam...

tyre 5mo ago
Because they lost and crumbled. They were unbelievably outmatched by Sam (a world-class manipulator) and Satya (the money behind OpenAI and himself a political genius.) They were outmaneuvered, panicked, and folded. Did they have to? No. But in the moment they thought they were on the precipice of nuking a deca-billion dollar company, their life’s greatest work, and a generational company. It’s hard to stand against what they did. Unsurprising they couldn’t.
- YetAnotherNick 5mo ago
  Then they should have made the position clear to the public, or at the very least have some communication with the employees. It's not hard to say that they were against Sam for some particular reason, if they are firing him. At least if the reason is good that might have given them some credibility. And why did Ilya become Sam lover after 2 days?
  - rfv6723 5mo ago
    The employees are on Sam's side. Employees works for money and Sam brought money in.
    - YetAnotherNick 5mo ago
      This is so obviously wrong I don't know how this theory got popular. OpenAI had everything from compute to brand name to contracts. Sam wasn't the reason the money was coming, employees and OpenAI were. Even if Sam bought them money, board could still tell the reason of firing Sam rather than keeping it a secret. And why did Ilya flip? He doesn't have much to gain by being in non profit when he could get more money elsewhere.
      - Recursing 5mo ago
        At the time gwern alleged it was because of Brockman's wife https://old.reddit.com/r/MachineLearning/comments/181o1q4/comment/kaduioa/ https://old.reddit.com/r/MachineLearning/comments/181o1q4/co...
        Keyframe 5mo ago
        Wow, emotions and all. These people should never be anywhere near dangerous technology such as advanced AI. Luckily, neither of them seem to be anymore since openAI lost its leading (technical) edge to other companies.
        sourcecodeplz 5mo ago
        People are people, same everywhere, emotions and all.
  - maplethorpe 5mo ago
    > Then they should have made the position clear to the public From what I understand, their legal counsel advised them not to speak publicly. Being inexperienced in this sort of political game, they thought they were doing the right thing.
    - Ey7NFZ3P0nzAe 4mo ago
      I just want to point out that it was the company's legal counsel I believe. Hence the "right thing" was only the right thing for the company. Not necessary for the greater good or their conscience.
  - jstummbillig 4mo ago
    I mean this in the best sense possible: Ilya is obviously a very strange human being. People seem to always entirely ignore this when discussing what happened at OpenAI and I feel including it serves well when trying to explain much of what happened.
- paulddraper 5mo ago
  > It’s hard to stand against what they did. It’s still unclear at what happened, to make Sam unfit to be the CEO.

cma 5mo ago

Part of the counter was Microsoft was going to try and hire everyone individually, compensating for the lost stock appreciation, without the org itself, if they went through with maintaining the firing. I think that could have been much harder to pull off, but maybe they made them believe it was an inevitable outcome.

krackers 5mo ago

>what happened in Ilya's mind I thought Ronan Farrow's investigate essay answered that pretty satisfactorily? https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/04/13/sam-altman-may-control-our-future-can-he-be-trusted https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/04/13/sam-altman-may...

wdr1 5mo ago
It's paywalled. Could you recap for us?
- krackers 5mo ago
  https://archive.is/c7YNw https://archive.is/c7YNw - it's worth a read, summarizing his writing would be a disservice
  - baobabKoodaa 4mo ago
    Infinite recaptcha loop