[rightbyte]

> a decision that destroyed billions of dollars worth of brand value and good will

I mean, there seem to be this cult following around Sam Altman on HN and Twitter. But do the common user care like at all?

What sane user would want a shitcoin CEO in charge of a product they depend on?

[twic]

Altman is an interesting character in all of this. As far as i can tell, he has never done anything impressive, in technology or business. Got into Stanford, but dropped out, founded a startup in 2005 which threw easy money at a boring problem and after seven years, sold for a third more than it raised. Got hired into YC after it was already well-established, and then rapidly put in charge of it. I have no knowledge of what went on inside, but he wrote some mediocre blog posts while he was there. YC seems to have done well, but VC success is mostly about your brand getting you access to deal flow at a good price, right? Hyped blockchain and AI far beyond reasonable levels. Founded OpenAI, which has done amazing things, but wasn't responsible for any of the technical work. Founded that weird eyeball shitcoin.

The fact that he got tapped to run YC, and then OpenAI, does make you think he must be pretty great. But there's a conspicuous absence of any visible evidence that he is. So what's going on? Amazing work, but in private? Easy-to-manipulate frontman? Signed a contract at a crossroads on a full moon night?

[jacquesm]

Altman has convinced PG that he's a pretty smart cookie and that alone would explain a lot of the red carpet treatment he's received. PG is pretty good at spotting talent.

http://www.paulgraham.com/5founders.html

Note the date on that.

[leobg]

What about the date?

[aidaman]

it was a really long time ago

[avidphantasm]

A lot of this was done when money was free.

[mrits]

If you only hire people with a record of previous accomplishments you are going to pay for their previous success. Being able to find talent without using false indicators like a Stanford degree is why PG is PG

[benterix]

Yeah, there definitely seem to be some personality cult around Sam on HN. I met him when he visited Europe during his lobbying tour. I was a bit surprised the CEO of one of the most innovative companies would promote an altcoin. And then he repeated how Europe is crucial, several times. Then he went to the UK and laughed, "Who cares about Europe". So he seems like the guy who will tell you what you want to hear. Ask anybody on the street, they will have no idea who the guy is.

[johnnymorgan]

I gotten SBF vibes from him for awhile now.

Elon split was the warning

[edmundsauto]

Telling statement. The Elon split for me cements Altman as the Lionheart in the story.

[jacquesm]

There are other options besides 'Elon is a jerk' or 'Sam is a jerk'.

[OOPMan]

For example...they're both jerks!

:-)

[johnnymorgan]

Yeah I don't mean Sam is a jerk but there is an element of dishonesty that twigs me.

Elon isn't above reproach either but I share interest with him (aka Robert Heinlein) which informs me on his decision making process.

[freejazz]

Normally that's a good sign

[comboy]

> Then he went to the UK and laughed, "Who cares about Europe"

Interesting. Got any source? Or was it in a private conversation.

[benterix]

No, this one was from a friend who was there, and AFAICT it wasn't a private conversation but a semi-public event. In any case, after courting a few EU countries he decided to set up OpenAI office in the UK.

I have nothing against him, it just seemed a bit off that most of the meeting was about this brand new coin, how it will be successful, and about the plans to scan biometric data of the entire world population. I mean, you don't have to be a genius to understand a few dozen ways these things can go wrong.

[piuantiderp]

It's a surprisingly small world.

[dumpsterdiver]

What do common users and zealots have to do with the majority of OpenAI employees losing faith in the board’s competence and threatening a mass exodus?

Is there any doubt that the board’s handling of this was anything other than dazzling ineptitude?

[chaostheory]

Mistakes aside, Altman was one of the earliest founders recruited by Paul Graham into YC. Altman eventually end up taking over Ycombinator from pg. He’s not just a “shitcoin” ceo. At the very least, he’s proven that he can raise money and deal with the media

[bnralt]

I’ve said this before, but it’s quite possible to think that Altman isn’t great, and that he’s better than the board and his replacement.

The new CEO of OpenAI said he’d rather Nazi’s take over the world forever than risk AI alignment failure, and said he couldn’t understand how anyone could think otherwise[1]. I don’t think people appreciate how far some of these people have gone off the deep end.

[1] https://twitter.com/eshear/status/1664375903223427072

[ummonk]

"End of all value" is pretty clearly referring to the extinction of the human species, not mere "AI alignment failure". The context is talking about x-risk.

[dragonwriter]

> The new CEO of OpenAI said he’d rather Nazi’s take over the world forever than risk AI alignment failure

That's pretty much in line with Sam's public statements on AI risk (Sam, taking those statements as honest which may not be warranted, apparently also thinks the benefits of aligned AI are good enough to drive ahead anyway, and that wide commercial access with the limited guardrails OpenAI has provided users and even moreso Microsoft is somehow beneficial to that goal or at least low enough risk of producing the bad outcome, to be warranted, but that doesn't change that he is publicly on record as a strong believer in misaligned AI risks.)

[rightbyte]

He gotta be insane? I guess what he is trying to say is that those who want to selfhost open AIs are worse than Nazis? E.g. Llama? What is up with these people and pushing for corporate overlord only AIs.

The OpenAI folks seem to be hallucinating to rationalize why the "Open" is rather closed.

Organizations can't pretend to believe nonsense. They will end up believing it.

[freejazz]

He's trying to say that AI-non-alignment would be a greater threat to humanity than having Nazis take over the world. It's perfectly clear.

[rightbyte]

Which means self-hosted AIs is worse than Nazis kicking in your door, since any self-hosted AI can be modified by a non big-tech aligned user.

He is dehumanizing programmers that can stop their sole reign on the AI throne, by labeling them as Nazis. Especially FOSS AI which by definition can't be "aligned" to his interests.

[freejazz]

I'm not reading that at all

[johnnymorgan]

Nope, we do not. I was annoyed when he pivoted away from the mission but otherwise don't really care.

Stability AI is looking better after this shitshow.