[dragonwriter]

> In such cases, I actually prefer Google over OpenAI.

For, what, moral kudos? (to be clear, I'm not saying this is a less important thing in some general sense, I'm saying what is preferred is always dependent on what we are talking about preferences for.)

> Monetization isn’t everything

Providing a user product (monetization is a different issue, though for a for-profit company they tend to be closely connected) is ultimately important for people looking for a product to use.

Other interests favor other things, sure.

[pb7]

>For, what, moral kudos?

For the good of society? Performing and releasing bleeding edge research benefits everyone, because anyone can use it. Case in point: transformers.

There is nothing open about OpenAI and they wouldn't exist in their current form without years of research funded by Google.

[lmm]

> For the good of society? Performing and releasing bleeding edge research benefits everyone, because anyone can use it.

OK, but that only works if you actually do the part that lets people actually use the research for something socially beneficial. A research paper doesn't have social benefit in itself, the social benefit comes when you do something with that research, as OpenAI has.

> There is nothing open about OpenAI and they wouldn't exist in their current form without years of research funded by Google.

True enough. But the fact remains that they're the ones delivering something we can actually use.

[magicalist]

But you can use several of those right now?

https://charts.ecmwf.int/products/graphcast_medium-mslp-wind...

[lmm]

Well, sure. But you can use the OpenAI stuff more and more generally.

[jaredsohn]

>There is nothing open about OpenAI

I personally think of it as open in the sense that they provide an API to allow anyone to use it (if they pay) and take advantage of the training they did. Is in contrast to large companies like Google which have lots of data and historically just use AI for their own products.

Edit:

I define it as having some level of being open beyond 'nothing'. The name doesn't scale well over time based on business considerations and the business environment changing and was named poorly when 'open source' is a common usage of open within tech. They should have used AI products to help them in naming the company and be aware of such potential controversies.

From chatgpt today (which wasn't an option at the time but they maybe could have gotten similar information or just thought about it more):

What are the drawbacks to calling an AI company 'open'?

...

"1. Expectations of Open Source: Using the term "open" might lead people to expect that the company's AI technology or software is open source. If this is not the case, it could create confusion and disappointment among users and developers who anticipate access to source code and the ability to modify and distribute the software freely.

2. Transparency Concerns: If an AI company claims to be "open," there may be heightened expectations regarding the transparency of their algorithms, decision-making processes, and data usage. Failure to meet these expectations could lead to skepticism or distrust among users and the broader public."

...

[leshow]

You define "open" as selling a service?

[pgeorgi]

As in The Open Group: discrimination-free, as long as you're able to pay.

[Matl]

You can outright buy OpenAI; as long as you're able to pay. By that definition everything is open/accessible/available.

[pgeorgi]

Right. I'm not defending their naming choice, just pointing out that "open = you need to be rich" is an ancient trope in computing:

Open Group was formed through the merger of Open Software Foundation (est. 1988) and X/Open (est. 1984), and they were all pay-to-play.

[swores]

I mean, we do use that word to describe physical retail shops as being available to sell vs being closed to sell, so it's not an insane use... though I do think that in a tech context it's more misleading than not.

[Jensson]

It is like calling Google "Open Search" or Youtube "Open Video".

[kbenson]

> or Youtube "Open Video".

Compared to a curated video service like HBO Max, Hulu, or Netflix, that's an accurate way to describe the relative differences. We aren't used to using that terminology through, so yes, it comes across as weird (and if the point is to communicate features, is not particularly useful compared to other terminology that could be used).

It makes a bit less sense for search IMO, since that's the prevalent model as far as I'm aware, so there's not an easy and obvious comparison that is "closed" which allows us to view Google search as "open".

[gtirloni]

Bakeries should be called OpenBakeries by that logic.

[selcuka]

Only within business hours.