this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
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[–] sigmaklimgrindset@sopuli.xyz 87 points 10 months ago (2 children)

The allegations from his sister aside (not discrediting them, I’m just not well informed on that atm), it’s been really strange seeing so many comments cheering for Sam Altman and dunking on the openAI board (handpicked by Altman himself btw) for this whole farce. We have no info on what’s happening inside, just 3rd party hearsay and speculation.

Not only that, the guy who allegedly led Altman’s ousting, Ilya Sutskever, signed the employee resignation letter asking to reinstate Altman as CEO.

OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, who reportedly led the push to remove Altman, noted on X (formerly Twitter) that he had some regrets about the weekend of chaos inside OpenAI. “I deeply regret my participation in the board’s actions. I never intended to harm OpenAI,” said Sutskever. “I love everything we’ve built together and I will do everything I can to reunite the company.”

And somehow Microsoft ends up the biggest winner out of this entire situation. I don’t consider myself conspiracy minded…but what the hell is going on here?

[–] AlmightySnoo@lemmy.world 0 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago) (1 children)

it’s been really strange seeing so many comments cheering for Sam Altman

It's the same with Elon's cult. People probably really believe that Sam is a genius and the one who made ChatGPT (just like Elon's fanboys really believe that he's involved with Tesla's engineering), so they see him, alongside Elon, as a symbol of meritocracy and they get angry at the board for ousting someone just because they're "afraid" of a "genius".

[–] Immersive_Matthew@sh.itjust.works -1 points 10 months ago

Agreed. I do not know Sam, but I do know smart people who push the boundary of tech and they are all heads down deep into whatever and have little time for talk. Talk is cheap.

[–] Socsa@sh.itjust.works -1 points 10 months ago

Meh, it's kind of a perverse dream that all engineers have to go toe to toe with the suits and win. Like an ex admitting that you've been right the whole time and begging you to come back but you are already fucking three of her smoking hot physicist friends.

[–] tsonfeir@lemm.ee 21 points 10 months ago (2 children)

So, the board, with no financial gain, kicks him out and now investors want to fire the board. Money wins again.

[–] Assman@sh.itjust.works 5 points 10 months ago (1 children)

The board wants him back too. The whole thing is a clown show.

[–] ripcord@kbin.social 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)
[–] Zima@kbin.social 1 points 10 months ago

they wanted him back but he had the condition that they made an apology letter and cleared him of any wrongdoing. that's when they changed their minds. if this is about not apologizing to save the company they do seem incompetent.

[–] FaceDeer@kbin.social -2 points 10 months ago

If the board didn't need money they wouldn't have investors.

[–] homesweethomeMrL@lemmy.world 17 points 10 months ago (1 children)

TL;DR: still don’t know anything. No one seems interested in saying wtf they’re doing.

[–] dingleberry@discuss.tchncs.de 9 points 10 months ago

CEO/employees want money, non-profit board wants caution.

[–] Peanutbjelly@sopuli.xyz 2 points 10 months ago (2 children)

Gary marcus is the last person I would consider for a statement on the topic.

No offense intended, but Gary marcus is a hack and a joke. He is a very small step above the yud, and neither will contribute to the safety or development of this technology in any way.

[–] otter@lemmy.ca 6 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Don't know him, what did he do?

[–] Peanutbjelly@sopuli.xyz 2 points 10 months ago (1 children)

marcus is a well known figure for being heavily critical of AI while also being comedically uninformed. much like the yud

i would like to have greater consideration for their opinions, but i find it difficult due to the often unfounded nature of their speculation. for marcus personally, i've seen him make arguments woefully out of touch with current information. this is why i describe him as being comedically uninformed.

wish the best for the guy, although i disagree with them both to the degree i find their reasoning childish and dangerous. the yud moreso.

and to the person assuming "yud" being racist for no reason, please get some help. he is an individual. i'm sure his harry potter fanfics are quality, and i mean no ill to the gentleman other than disagreeing strongly with his opinions on AI.

[–] fsmacolyte@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

what in particular shows that Gary Marcus is uniformed? I dislike him because he's dogmatic and petty but I haven't seen a specific thing he's been wrong about, but I'd love examples.

[–] rastilin@kbin.social 4 points 10 months ago

I remember Yudowski being a thing like a decade ago, and people were making fun of his "AI" research even then. It's scary to realize that not only did some people take him seriously, but those people are at the helm of AI companies and making decisions affecting tens of billions of investment capital. I think there was a quote by Kurt Vonnegut that "true horror is waking up one morning and realizing your high school class is running the country".

For the other poster lower down, I'd almost successfully forgotten about his Harry Potter fanfiction, people kept praising it so I actually read through a bit of it, it's painful reading. He also wrote a Superman fanfiction and that's even worse. I think they both say a lot about his internal mental state and his perception of other people though.

[–] autotldr@lemmings.world -1 points 10 months ago (1 children)

This is the best summary I could come up with:


On Friday, OpenAI’s board shocked investors and employees alike by firing CEO Sam Altman.

Marcus wrote about the situation on his Substack, sharing an analysis written by Fortune’s Jeremy Kahn earlier in the day.

In OpenAI’s unusual structure, a board “with no financial interest was supposed to look out for humanity,” Marcus wrote.

When faced with the potential financial repercussions of Altman’s removal, “the nominally subordinate for-profit (both employees and investors) quickly set to work to push out the board and to undo its decisions,” Marcus wrote.

Altman had told investors that if he did return to OpenAI, he wanted a new board and governance structure, according to the Wall Street Journal.

“The tail thus appears to have wagged the dog—potentially imperiling the original mission, if there was any substance at all to the Board’s concerns,” wrote Marcus.


The original article contains 501 words, the summary contains 138 words. Saved 72%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] helenslunch@feddit.nl 0 points 10 months ago (1 children)

Wait so who are the baddies again?

[–] key@lemmy.keychat.org 4 points 10 months ago