It’s fairly unusual that a CEO getting fired would put a company’s ability to continue to operate at such high risk.
I’d take it less as a signal of approval in the ordinary sense (though some of it’s probably that!) and more one of perceived dependence. Altman = Microsoft = big piles of cash.
I must admit, the first clause of my sentence was mostly a vehicle for the second clause, the punchline — sole-proprietors not approving of themselves. It loses a bit in the explaining. Although whatever that 95% is a proxy for, they clearly trust Altman dramatically, enough to endure a job at a Microsoft subsidiary.
How many people would stand in front of their boss and the rest of the world and say that they don't support him? That's what this open letter is equivalent to.
You may want to double check that. Their letter was in support of the CEO from 3 days ago. Although you’re right they don’t support the new CEO appointed within the last 24 hrs, but they don’t explicitly mention that, but they do lambast the current board of directors — and I imagine the the board should feel embarrassed, but save one, there’s no evidence of that.
Sure, but (even more importantly after passing some threshold of signatures) the question's not 'do you approve of Altman as CEO' but 'do you approve of the board of your employer'.
And I'm not just saying it's the board vs CEO, it's job preservation etc. not just abstract personality approval. (Again, much more so for the last 20% than the first.)
This isn't indicative of a >95% approval rating for Altman, though—once the first 50% of employees sign the letter, the rest might sign due to peer pressure (even if not explicit), or because their favorite coworkers have already signed, or because the new CEO doesn't have a good reputation among workers, or lots of other reasons besides "when last asked if I approved of the CEO in the abstract I said yes".
By the dozens of employee accounts I’ve read in the last 72 hours they all spoke with affection, and I could not find any detractors. A repeated theme was that he always took the time to listen and he cared and went out of his way. I’ve never worked with a CEO I would describe that way. I don’t know how widespread that is among their employees, or whether they’re mostly pissed at the board for destroying their financial futures, but I’d say this situation and their level of devotion is mind boggling, almost cult like.
It's obvious and I don't mean to imply you aren't aware or even that you're wrong, but if I had the earning potential of an OpenAI employee, I probably wouldn't be looking to publicly shit on anyone that might affect that gravy train.
I’d take it less as a signal of approval in the ordinary sense (though some of it’s probably that!) and more one of perceived dependence. Altman = Microsoft = big piles of cash.