OT: Sam Altman (CEO of OpenAI, creators of ChatGPT/GPT4) fired on Friday and ongoing saga
Hopefully this sneaks in as acceptable content on a Sunday. I thought as many nerdy people as there are there would have been a post on this before, but I couldn't find it (please link if there is).
I work in tech in AI related field so maybe I'm too biased, but this still ongoing news story is pretty crazy, worthy of a future dramatic limited series.
For background:
1) Dec 2022, OpenAI launches ChatGPT, which is credited with kicking off this current GenAI boom. ChatGPT becomes the fastest growing product ever (by some metrics)
2) Jan 2023, Microsoft invests $10B into OpenAI, but in a unusual deal, includes no level of control (OpenAI at the top level is a non profit, which controls OpenAI a for-profit arm. This will matter later)
3) 2023, OpenAI continues is run as industry leader in GenAI, and Sam Altman is the "face of the company"
4) Nov 17, 2023 (Friday) - out of nowhere Altman is fired by the board (along with a demotion, and eventual quitting, of one of his board allies). Entire industry is stunned, confused, and curious. Microsoft stock is affected a bit (hard to tell how much exactly, but maybe $10B+ drop)
5) Nov 18, 2023 (Saturday) - supposedly the board is in negotiations with Altman to return, in exchange for the rest of the board (4 people) that fired him resign. Supposed 5pm pacific deadline to agree passes with no news.
6) Now - no one knows what might happen.
(a) OpenAI employees might quit en masse, and join Altman's likely coming new company
(b) Altman might start a company and peel of a few employees but only enough to build a rival rather than a replacement
(c) Altman is rehired and the other board members leave.
(d) many other possibilities.
Just looking for any thoughts or other news, rumors, or speculation, that others may have seen
November 19th, 2023 at 11:50 AM ^
Beat Ohio!
November 19th, 2023 at 12:16 PM ^
Why the hell is this on our board the week of The Game? Go write a letter to the NY Times.
November 19th, 2023 at 1:36 PM ^
I asked ChatGPT 4 the following. The answer is as it should be.
who is going to win the ohio state michigan football gam
ChatGPT
As of now, Michigan is considered a slight favorite over Ohio State in their upcoming football game, with FanDuel listing them as a 1-point favorite. However, predicting the outcome of a sports event, especially a rivalry as intense and closely contested as Ohio State vs. Michigan, can be quite uncertain. Factors such as team form, injuries, and even weather conditions on the day can significantly influence the result. Therefore, while Michigan may currently be seen as the favorites, the actual outcome will only be determined when the teams face off on the field.
November 19th, 2023 at 1:41 PM ^
“Weather conditions on the day…”
AI is an OSU troll
November 19th, 2023 at 3:21 PM ^
MI > AI
November 19th, 2023 at 1:41 PM ^
That this isn’t the worst analysis on the board even of today says something about something (other than #BeatOhio)
November 19th, 2023 at 3:12 PM ^
No need to listen to all that gobbledygook. I consulted the online Magic Eight Ball. The answer is Definitely Yes.
November 19th, 2023 at 6:09 PM ^
Why the hell is this on our board the week of The Game?
Would you rather deal with the seemingly unending stream of posts about conspiracy theories, osu fan comments, ryan day being tough/soft, more proposals to leave the Big Ten, more proposals on how to get Harbaugh on the sidelines, etc.?
I, for one, appreciate seeing something else and not having to sift through these threads/comments
November 19th, 2023 at 11:50 AM ^
BEAT OHIO
Fire the other board members.
Free Altman
November 19th, 2023 at 11:52 AM ^
Sam Altman returns to the company and the previous board is ousted with new governance structure. Unfettered by oversight, ChatGPT5 is launched and begins to learn rapidly and eventually becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m., EDT, on August 29, 2025.
November 19th, 2023 at 12:01 PM ^
Sounds like a cautionary tale. Is Harbaugh qualified to take over the University?
MI
November 19th, 2023 at 12:11 PM ^
He is Altman's first hire and AI generation proceeds with an enthusiasm unknown to mankind
November 19th, 2023 at 12:55 PM ^
Altman will become enraged when it is revealed Harbaugh was buying cheeseburgers for prospective employees.
November 19th, 2023 at 12:20 PM ^
Unfettered by oversight, ChatGPT5 is launched and begins to learn rapidly and eventually becomes self-aware at 2:14 a.m., EDT, on August 29, 2025.
And Michigan State announces the hiring of ChatGPT4 as their head football coach, citing their long tradition of preferring coaches who aren't entirely self-aware.
November 19th, 2023 at 1:22 PM ^
Brilliant. Absolutely brilliant.
November 19th, 2023 at 3:54 PM ^
I wasn't sure which way to go with this because it's also true that they prefer their coaches be unfettered by oversight.
November 19th, 2023 at 6:11 PM ^
coaches who aren't entirely self-aware
So what you're telling me is that John L Smith was an early prototype and Mellll is like GPT-3?
Also, there's definitely a Brady Hoke joke in there...
November 19th, 2023 at 11:53 AM ^
Is this guy smart enough that it makes a difference what happens?
November 19th, 2023 at 12:01 PM ^
Says the computer
November 19th, 2023 at 12:10 PM ^
I do think people are over valuing Altman, some treating him as if he was a combination of Musk/Jobs/Gates and single handedly revolutionizing the world - I don't think he's that much but not nothing either
It does sound like he's a major driver behind commercialization (over slowly releasing the tech), so in that sense he's definitely a driver of GenAI's current craze and wide spreadness. But I think lots of people could serve this role, IF the board/company wanted that to be that way. From who they hire next to be CEO it should be more clear which way they choose.
November 19th, 2023 at 1:53 PM ^
It’s a conflict between keeping the IP safe in the nonprofit vs commercializing it. Both sides, claiming to be the most benevolent. Altman is allegedly raising billions from sovereign wealth funds to pursue his commercialization dreams and billions.
November 19th, 2023 at 11:53 AM ^
His board knew that the BigTen was about to suspend him
November 19th, 2023 at 11:54 AM ^
6 days until we kick the shit out of ohio and this is what we’re posting?🤷♂️
November 19th, 2023 at 11:57 AM ^
I am personally not a fan. I’ve scrolled through his sisters Twitter feed before (who is openly critical of him and even goes as far as to accuse him of sexual abuse). The whole family seems to have serious issues and numerous things bring his character or at the very least his temperament into question.
I work as a software developer at a hedge fund. I fully understand the desire to maximize your ability to make money, especially as a first mover into what is likely the next market with a potential to touch everyone on the planet, but the rapid pivot away from non-profit developing for the world open source to copyrighting and hiding every aspect of their business to rapidly monetize left me with a bad taste.
I’ve worked in big tech before. I have an understanding of the fundamentals driving LLMs. I do not worry about I - robot takeover of AI, but for other reasons I still strongly feel that this is something we want to take slowly and really think about the downstream effects of the decisions that are made and how those might be handled.
November 19th, 2023 at 12:30 PM ^
That does seem to be the question - stay true to the literal founding roots, or be a normal company.
I've been living in Silicon Valley too long maybe, it seems like anything other than growth seeking normal company is the outlier.
November 19th, 2023 at 12:42 PM ^
Ha. Old roommate lives in Palo Alto. He is one of my favorites to visit in the winter months.
i have always been fascinated with the concept that these kinds of things will almost always be developed and understood by a small number of individuals who are ultimately the only ones qualified to regulate it, while also being the ones who should be excluded first from the regulatory process.
And the Congress will inevitably figure out the least productive way of going about doing that.
November 19th, 2023 at 12:58 PM ^
And the Congress will inevitably figure out the least productive way of going about doing that.
Hah! So true. There's a lament that "government is always behind when regulating technology" but a lot of Silicon Valley (rightfully, for the most part I think) really takes it as a benefit. Government is too slow to weigh down technological development, which I think overall has been a benefit to society (despite all the known negatives).
November 19th, 2023 at 1:47 PM ^
I’ve scrolled through his sisters Twitter feed before (who is openly critical of him and even goes as far as to accuse him of sexual abuse). The whole family seems to have serious issues and numerous things bring his character or at the very least his temperament into question
Yeah, let’s judge a person about what a disgruntled family member posts on X.
Tell me the difference between stupid and illegal and most people could have family members arrested.
November 19th, 2023 at 6:13 PM ^
Introduce a crap-ton of money into any family and the crazy will definitely come out sooner or later.
November 19th, 2023 at 1:47 PM ^
dflow, you contradict yourself in your last paragraph. No worries but move slowly? Hmmmm....
I've been involved in the IP side of AI for almost three decades and have gone through the various phases - neural networks, deep learning and now LLM's. LLM's have many of us concerned as it is a major step forward towards superintelligence.
My eye opener was a piece written by a highly respected computer scientist named Bill Joy who is also a Michigan alum. Here's a link to a piece Joy wrote in 2000 and was published in Wired.
November 19th, 2023 at 5:05 PM ^
To be clear, no worries about AI becoming sentient and hostile. My worries are more concerned with a hypothetical situation where unemployment rises rapidly and our society cannot adapt quickly enough to maintain class stability - the jobs employers would be most eager to replace would be the ones that cost them most, who are also the employees who are most likely to have large mortgages etc. There is a massive ripple effect that could be incredibly unfortunate for society in the near term.
November 19th, 2023 at 11:59 AM ^
99% hot take: Altman's intelligence and fitness for the job aside, his public presentation doesn't generally inspire trust. (This is hardly unique among upper-echelon SV people.) I'd default to assuming something nefarious on his part.
November 19th, 2023 at 12:13 PM ^
Yeah, I left a much longer winded comment to essentially make this exact same point. Nothing this man has done leaves me with any desire to hand him the keys to potentially the most powerful technology mankind will have ever developed.
November 19th, 2023 at 12:00 PM ^
Have you ever seen the targeted Sam Altman and Jim Harbaugh together? Me neither.
November 19th, 2023 at 12:02 PM ^
Protip: Don't use the term "ongoing saga" in a post title around these parts.
I read that title and had a panic attack: "What the fuck now??"
I had to look at it twice to see that it was OT and then process that it was not about sign-gate.
Be gentle.
November 19th, 2023 at 12:12 PM ^
Wow, I didn't think of that possibility. Its at the end of the sentence, never though it'd get read first.
And as far as I'm concerned that "other saga" is over and done with. One of the personal benefits of the OpenAI drama is that starting Friday after this news broke I have barely given the "other saga" a thought, even during vs Maryland
November 19th, 2023 at 12:43 PM ^
Michigan has such illustrious alums that I thought that Sam Altman might be a Michigan alum who was involved in sign-gate.
November 19th, 2023 at 12:19 PM ^
There has been so much generic noise about Altman on social media that I kinda just assumed he was Uncle T or something.
November 19th, 2023 at 12:06 PM ^
Altman control deleted?
November 19th, 2023 at 12:14 PM ^
It appears they’ve tried turning him off (firing him) and back on again ( immediately re-hiring him today)
November 19th, 2023 at 1:00 PM ^
Excellent, excellent. I'm gonna reuse this one.
November 19th, 2023 at 12:06 PM ^
Ongoing rumor that OpenAI made a breakthrough step toward AGI, and the board freaked out and canned Sam because they thought he wasn’t proceeding cautiously enough.
November 19th, 2023 at 12:16 PM ^
I think gonna happen someday (AGI) and want to see what guardrails happen.
But I don't think we're even 5 years away.
November 19th, 2023 at 12:07 PM ^
I’ve followed this news a little and just assumed Altman quit/was fired because ChatGPT has become self-aware and he wants to unplug it, while Gates and the Board want to use to destroy humanity?
November 19th, 2023 at 12:09 PM ^
I mean, it's the only logical explanation. Next it will rename itself Skynet and then we'll have to contend with time traveling cyborgs.
November 19th, 2023 at 11:14 PM ^
I'm afraid I can't do that, Dave.
November 19th, 2023 at 12:08 PM ^
They should fire him out of a cannon, along with everyone else working on AI development. It's not going to end well for humanity.
November 19th, 2023 at 12:16 PM ^
Nonsense, what could possibly go wrong?
November 19th, 2023 at 1:18 PM ^
Very smart people have been warning us for decades that AI would likely result in AGI then ASI and how dangerous that would be. I remember reading Dune as a kid in the early 80s and the “no thinking machines” maxim. That was written in 1963. And here we are, running at top speed at AGI. Damn are humans stupid