Sam Altman to Return as OpenAI CEO, Days After Board's Decision for Removal

[thesmokingman]

I'm pretty sure Ilya is male.

It makes one wonder how carefully TPU readers have been following this drama. Admittedly the media has done a piss poor job covering this circus.

It is almost as if this whole episode was written by AI.

Yea, that made me lol as well.

 

[Vayra86]

while i would fundamentally agree to this i have no hopes that government regulation wouldn't make this shitshow even far worse. brave new world indeed.

Government shares the interests of a healthy and functional society with us, or they rule over a bunch of misfits. So yeah, gov regulation is preferable without any sliver of doubt.

I'm pretty sure Ilya identifies as male.

It makes one wonder how carefully TPU readers have been following this drama. Admittedly the media has done a piss poor job covering this circus.

It is almost as if this whole episode was written by AI.

Bingo. Software design shapes us. We have no idea of the implications. The going principle in the leading edge of tech and in development is to innovate, fail, learn, try again, until you succeed. That's what AI does. Its what might have been tried here.

 

[shoskunk]

So Microsoft.. Microsoft... knowing the volatility of the space, and with a bevy of lawyers on hand, would offer this guy a job to run AI for them without a clause in the acceptance letter?

Where's that part of the story? Anywhere!?

Nope..

 

[mechtech]

I wonder if he got the golden parachute and then a signing bonus?? Lol

 

[Evildead666]

aaaaaaaaaaah yes…i can’t wait for the movie about this to come out. the shit show that was endured definitely was a read and would need a visual. i wonder who would play as sam.

The Movie ?

This is surly worthy of a Broadway Musical rendition.
/s

 

[Selaya]

Government shares the interests of a healthy and functional society with us, or they rule over a bunch of misfits. So yeah, gov regulation is preferable without any sliver of doubt.
[ ... ]

wher r u from, utopia????

 

[Deleted member 229121]

All it truly confirms is one thing; regulate the shit out of these ratholes.
They influence society far too much to go unregulated as they are. We missed the boat with social media, let's not repeat that. We regulate banks as they are critical infrastructure, but the social discourse is far more critical. We need some form of checks and balances here, I don't even know exactly what or how, but it being complicated doesn't mean its not necessary.

 

[Vayra86]

wher r u from, utopia????

Reality, and information not built on social media news feeds.

I won't deny regulation is easy or perfect. But its better. Crypto is a good example - its a market that doesn't like regulators stepping in, but they do, and as they do, voices in the crypto market are raised that its actually possibly a good thing for it, because it elevates the trust in the market, and for currencies and trade, trust is everything. The lack of regulation is the whole reason crypto is in the shitter and will be there for some unforeseen period of time; sure you can speculate with it, but beyond that? Pointless exercise.

 

[Selaya]

well you've got it wrong then, there's maybe three governments that do about as little as they possibly can to ensure unfairness is just contained at a level that doesn't lead to a popular revolution while about half of the remaining somewhat appear to be doing said thing (but not really)

that's a far cry from

Government shares the interests of a healthy and functional society [ ... ]

but anyways, i digress

 

[thesmokingman]

Wow, there was a huge letter sent to Musk whom then shared it on X. It's not being reported on by major media, no surprise considering it hit the air in the early AM. Otherwise it's been hosted on the archive. It's a huge call out on Altman and Brockman, beware though of big time douche examples. Altman then looks like a perfect fit at MSFT.

openai-message-to-board.md

GitHub Gist: instantly share code, notes, and snippets.

web.archive.org

We provide concrete examples of Sam and Greg's dishonesty & manipulation including:

• Sam's demand for researchers to delay reporting progress on specific "secret" research initiatives, which were later dismantled for failing to deliver sufficient results quickly enough. Those who questioned this practice were dismissed as "bad culture fits" and even terminated, some just before Thanksgiving 2019.
• Greg's use of discriminatory language against a gender-transitioning team member. Despite many promises to address this issue, no meaningful action was taken, except for Greg simply avoiding all communication with the affected individual, effectively creating a hostile work environment. This team member was eventually terminated for alleged under-performance.
• Sam directing IT and Operations staff to conduct investigations into employees, including Ilya, without the knowledge or consent of management.
• Sam's discreet, yet routine exploitation of OpenAI's non-profit resources to advance his personal goals, particularly motivated by his grudge against Elon following their falling out.
• The Operations team's tacit acceptance of the special rules that applied to Greg, navigating intricate requirements to avoid being blacklisted.
• Brad Lightcap's unfulfilled promise to make public the documents detailing OpenAI's capped-profit structure and the profit cap for each investor.
• Sam's incongruent promises to research projects for compute quotas, causing internal distrust and infighting.

 

[Icon Charlie]

Unfortunately it is already too late. And with the new board OpenAI is de facto Microsoft subsidiary.

I agree with this comment as I looked a bit harder on the situation.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

I'm pretty sure Ilya identifies as male.

It makes one wonder how carefully TPU readers have been following this drama. Admittedly the media has done a piss poor job covering this circus.

It is almost as if this whole episode was written by AI.

I think the headlines and real story should be about the board of directors, who is out not just who is in now leaving Sam Altmans return as a secondary story here.

 

[thesmokingman]

I think the headlines and real story should be about the board of directors, who is out not just who is in now leaving Sam Altmans return as a secondary story here.

The board did their job though, they tried to protect the mission. Let's not forget MSFT is also a major media company and notice the lack of reporting on why Altman was removed. The narrative is now about how whacked the board was and how much they screwed up when in reality Altman crossed so many lines and the board had had enough. If you dig into Altman, you'll see this isn't the first time he's been straight up fired for being a douche and self serving, y combinator anyone?

 

[cvaldes]

The board did their job though, they tried to protect the mission. Let's not forget MSFT is also a major media company and notice the lack of reporting on why Altman was removed. The narrative is now about how whacked the board was and how much they screwed up when in reality Altman crossed so many lines and the board had had enough. If you dig into Altman, you'll see this isn't the first time he's been straight up fired for being a douche and self serving, y combinator anyone?

This whole episode illustrates how pathetic tech media journalism has become (not just TechPowerUp).

No one has seriously asked how Altman's firing happened. Sure, he was fired but all the articles basically said "the board" fired him?

Assuming it required a majority, who were the board members who fired Altman? What were their backgrounds? What are their connections with Microsoft? Why did they leave the board? Where are they now? Who selected the new board members? What are their affiliation with Microsoft and Altman?

Somewhere on Sand Hill Road, someone knows all these answers.

 

[Minus Infinity]

The whole thing was staged. OpenAI wanted some free publicity and everyone talking about them. No one was fired, no one was walking.

 

[DeathtoGnomes]

The board did their job though, they tried to protect the mission. Let's not forget MSFT is also a major media company and notice the lack of reporting on why Altman was removed. The narrative is now about how whacked the board was and how much they screwed up when in reality Altman crossed so many lines and the board had had enough. If you dig into Altman, you'll see this isn't the first time he's been straight up fired for being a douche and self serving, y combinator anyone?

Im gonmna go on alimb here and there was bad blood betwen certain board members and altman that just needed an excuse to fire him. Personalities aside, we will never really know exactly what the conditions were but I will ass-u-me the board members that left was a major role in the ongoing shenanigans. It wouldnt be the first time a CEO was stabbed in the back by board members want to install a more pliable lackey. MS's role is insignificant which is also IMO.

This whole episode illustrates how pathetic tech media journalism has become (not just TechPowerUp).

No one has seriously asked how Altman's firing happened. Sure, he was fired but all the articles basically said "the board" fired him?

Assuming it required a majority, who were the board members who fired Altman? What were their backgrounds? What are their connections with Microsoft? Why did they leave the board? Where are they now? Who selected the new board members? What are their affiliation with Microsoft and Altman?

Somewhere on Sand Hill Road, someone knows all these answers.

Those are some interesting questions indeed, one more, how long has the conflicts been going on. If it dates back to the beginning we could speculate that it was a firing waiting to happen, for any plausible excuse.

The whole thing was staged. OpenAI wanted some free publicity and everyone talking about them. No one was fired, no one was walking.

I've got a tin hat you can borrow.

 

[thesmokingman]

Im gonmna go on alimb here and there was bad blood betwen certain board members and altman that just needed an excuse to fire him. Personalities aside, we will never really know exactly what the conditions were but I will ass-u-me the board members that left was a major role in the ongoing shenanigans. It wouldnt be the first time a CEO was stabbed in the back by board members want to install a more pliable lackey. MS's role is insignificant which is also IMO.


Those are some interesting questions indeed, one more, how long has the conflicts been going on. If it dates back to the beginning we could speculate that it was a firing waiting to happen, for any plausible excuse.


I've got a tin hat you can borrow.

Read my post above. OpenAI employees wrote a letter to the board listing out many serious issues with Altman going back to 2019. The board is therew as a checks and balances system, they're not there to pander to the CEO but to keep him/her in check. OpenAI has now replaced those board members with "yes" men. This it turns out is a fine result for MSFT and Altman. Hell going back to before OpenAI, Altman was doing the same shit. He was double dipping at Y Combinator which is insane considering it's a start up funder.