this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
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Yeah, it was a massive coup for Microsoft. As people are pointing out, MS has been falling behind in consumer spaces for a while now. Investing early and obtaining a substantial edge in AI would help bolster their position in coming years across all markets.
They moved in and invested in OpenAI the way they did because of this. And then all of a sudden Altman and a bunch of top researchers leave all at the same time? The most Microsoft thing they could have done is exactly what they did: swoop him up and promise him the moon (in this case, the promise is clearly that they'll give him a lot of latitude so he doesn't feel too much like he lost out by not forming his own company -- they even said something around this in their press release) to get him on their side and his name on paperwork before he has a chance to seriously reconsider.
Altman probably thinks he got one over on OpenAI, but really, Microsoft got one over on him and OpenAI.
That's treating him like an idiot, he might know what Microsoft is thinking and maybe he has no problem going along with it
Microsoft plays these games all the time. They raid startups and accumulate all the IP and talent for themselves. It often involves a leveraged buyout, but if the company has an internal fight and their darling CEO takes most of the top talent with him, and MS owns a 49% stake in the ~~victim~~ company in question, swooping the CEO and all the top talent is a great way to start driving the price down on any leftover IP/talent left at OpenAI they might be interested in. They just sabotage the company until it collapses then they offer a "fair price"
Basically, if you look at MS's history with founders and startups, you'd have to be either a complete idiot, or really hurting and in a very emotional place (come on, the board stabbed him in the back and tried to get rid of him like he was an incompetent middle manager, they even tried to do it on a Friday like he was some clerk) to think Microsoft's offer isn't just a ploy to grab up all your IP and talent, and that once you've helped them get all your top researchers, you'll have any independence or ability to do anything other than be a cog in Microsoft's machine.
Just because Altman's a human who is able to be manipulated by a big, evil corporation with an infamous track record for manipulating people like him doesn't make him an "idiot," it makes him a human being. What are you, a Vulcan?