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by hutzlibu 911 days ago
"“I saw in a 19-year-old Sam Altman the same thing that I see now: an intensely focused and brilliant person whom I was willing to bet big on,” said Chung, now managing general partner of Xfund, a venture-capital firm."

They believe in his focus to get things done, not in his ethics. And with ChatGPT, he got things done. Which means, he connected the right people and raised money so they can work on the important things.

1 comments

> said Chung, now managing general partner of Xfund, a venture-capital firm.

Emphasis mine. I mean, that's just backs up my original question. These people will say anything to garner favor, perceived or otherwise. I've seen Altman speak. At what point should I expect to see a representative example of this focus and insight?

> At what point should I expect to see a representative example of this focus and insight?

Probably never. He says nothing of substance in public.

No you don’t get it, you’re not VC enough.

He has VC catnip, and he sprinkles it on his clothes, most notably between the 6 polo shirts he wears at once.

Lol. I was once at a place of real business and research that hosted some machine learning talk by a guy at Uber. When he walked in, late I might add, to an auditorium full of business casual and suits, he looked like a cartoon character with his spiky hair, jeans, colorful shirt, and all. He also spent every answer to questions making it clear he doesn't work on self-driving cars or call-a-taxis, which was strange given his employer.
His keynote at this year's OpenAI DevDay is an example of his focus. Have you watched it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=U9mJuUkhUzk

His pacing, clarity, and proficiency with the product are impressive; regardless of how one might feel about him.

But of course, as with these things, nobody needs to admit to anything and any claim can easily be rejected.

The more polarising the figure, the more polarising the assessment of anything concerning them. Disconnecting different facets of a figure is not our strong suite.