Sam Altman is back as CEO of OpenAI after inking a deal to return to the company following immense pressure from employees and investors on the board that ousted him less than a week ago.
  • toothbrush@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
    62·
    2 years ago

    This is such a confusing and messy situation. There is definitely more going on that we dont know about. I already posted this in another thread but:

    heres what I think could be going on:

    tinfoil hat on

    Some Microsoft bigwigs read the OpenAI foundation contract again and realise that they gave them a bunch of money but didnt get the nonprofit, and that they are now fully dependant on them, and that Altman is an experienced shark that knows this. They cant just buy the non-profit, the board would never agree. So they hatch a plan.

    They get the lead researcher and a bunch of board members riled up against Altman, with a bunch of dirt they have on him. They tell them hes going to run off with the money and show some proof. The board decides to fire Altman. In the same breath but in another room microsoft hires altman, and promise all openAI employees employment at their new openAI bootleg. They then tell the board through the official channels, that they fucked up and need to resign.

    Now, the situation was like this:

    • Either the board resigns, and microsoft gets to put some puppets in their place and complete buying openAI
    • The board doesnt resign, microsoft gets all their employees and the company in anything but name and openAI slowly fades in relevancy until Microsoft makes a generous offer of 150% above what they are worth(half of their price right now)

    either way, microsoft wins.

    so yeah, I think the next thing we are going to see is microsoft buying more openAI and getting actual control, or a complete buy.

    • EnderMB@lemmy.worldEnglish
      2·
      2 years ago

      Sadly, I think you’re absolutely right. This feels orchestrated in a way that allows a select few parties to look like visionaries, while eliminating others from getting in the way.

  • archomrade [he/him]@midwest.socialEnglish
    4·
    2 years ago

    So many people here are eager to determine who the money-grubbers are, but here I am just curious what the material disagreement actually is, and how MSFT fits into it.

    Seems to me like the board of directors and leadership are mostly aligned on the underlying goals, but disagree on how to approach achieving them.

    • spaduf@slrpnk.netEnglish
      1·
      2 years ago

      I’ve been really surprised that the blanket promise to pay the legal bills of folks who may or may not be operating under fair use has not been a bigger part of this conversation. Particularly as this new line of user customized gpt products already includes PAYING the people who build these sometimes illegal products. The money incinerator continues.

  • PrincessLeiasCat@sh.itjust.worksEnglish
    2·
    2 years ago

    I had never even heard of this guy until like 4 days ago. Now I have to wonder if he can turn water into wine and raise the dead because everyone’s losing their shit over him.

    • roguetrick@kbin.social
      0·
      2 years ago

      I think its mostly popcorn at this point. The general opinion as I’ve noticed is that OpenAI is severely failing at living up to what it promised. Nobody particularly gives a shit about the board or Altman except some folks that seem fixated about the honestly unhinged postings of his sister.

    • PeWu@lemmy.mlEnglish
      0·
      2 years ago

      For fucking real. It’s like he’s God himself, because everyone want him, nevermind the consequences.

      • evatronic@lemm.eeEnglish
        2·
        2 years ago

        I have to believe it’s mostly hype. The man was at the helm when OpenAI suddenly “changed the world” with “AI” (note the quotes) but that seems to be almost entirely a case of luck.

        Like, generative AI models aren’t really brand new. OpenAI just made them really accessible and easy to use for other applications, which is where Altman comes in. He had an ounce of foresight to see the tech was “the future” and a whole lot of luck executing on his plan to bring it to market.

        As a figurehead and leader, that does count for a lot, but not the table-flipping freak outs we see happening.

        • Blapoo@lemmy.mlEnglish
          2·
          2 years ago

          There are a lot of LLMs. None hold a candle to OpenAI’s models still.

          This will change in time, but right now OpenAI is still in front

  • Crow@lemmy.worldEnglish
    2·
    2 years ago

    Who thinks some Ultra Intelligent General AI is already running things behind the scenes of openAI and threatens the humans of the company if they didn’t bring back the guy who serves the AI.

    • quo@feddit.ukEnglish
      2·
      2 years ago

      I’ve been watching Boomers run all their emails and presentations from ChatGPT prompts, it wouldn’t surprise me if the people pulling the strings were getting guidance from a bot. MS personality type would absolutely test a brand new tech in a reckless way.

      Some MS exec is just a passthrough for the AI

    • hedgehogging_the_bed@lemmy.worldEnglish
      32·
      2 years ago

      I’m not convinced this wasn’t a planned strategy to get OpenAI back in the headlines for a week.

      I didn’t think so at first but now that it looks like everything will go back to “normal” before the US Thanksgiving Weekend, I feel like maybe this was a “Chinese Firedrill” to get attention for something other than their training data and legal problems.

  • yeehaw@lemmy.caEnglish
    21·
    2 years ago

    So why about the board then? These people seem like idiots.