zlacker

>>davidb+(OP)
Put the pieces together:

Nov 6 - OpenAI devday, with new features of build-your-own ChatGPT and more

Nov 9 - Microsoft cuts employees off from ChatGPT due to "security concerns" [0]

Nov 9 - OpenAI experiences severe downtime the company attributes to a "DDoS" (not the correct term for 'excess usage') [3]

Nov 15 - OpenAI announce no new ChatGPT plus upgrades [1] but still allow regular signups (and still do)

Nov 17 - OpenAI fire Altman

Put the threads together - one theory: the new release had a serious security issue, leaked a bunch of data, and it wasn't disclosed, but Microsoft knew about it.

This wouldn't be the first time - in March there was an incident where users were seeing the private chats of other users [2]

Further extending theory - prioritizing getting to market overrode security/privacy testing, and this most recent release caused something much, much larger.

Further: CTO Mira / others internally concerned about launch etc. but overruled by CEO. Kicks issue up to board, hence their trust in her taking over as interim CEO.

edit: added note on DDoS (thanks kristjansson below) - and despite the downtime it was only upgrades to ChatGPT Plus with the new features that were disabled. Note on why CTO would take over.

[0] https://www.cnbc.com/2023/11/09/microsoft-restricts-employee...

[1] https://twitter.com/sama/status/1724626002595471740

[2] https://www.theverge.com/2023/3/21/23649806/chatgpt-chat-his...

[3] https://techcrunch.com/2023/11/09/openai-blames-ddos-attack-...

>>nikcub+Gj
oh thank god. I distrusted Sam Altman with a passion. Granted who knows if the new CEO is much better though.

>>majest+yt
Why?

>>bl0rg+Sj1
Delusions of grandeur and God complex, weird cult-y associations, sketchy past and a lot of things that don't fully add up, and the general feeling that this is a person that is in way over his head and that he is an enormous danger to both himself and others so long as he is allowed to behave as he has been behaving. I should see the timing of all of this and the surrounding inflation has already severely damaged the public perception of the tech industry to such an extent that I do not think there is any hope any more of not being completely and totally destroyed and neutered by the government. The HackerNews demographic is so fundamentally out of touch with the actual political winds in the world, and these stunts Altman is doing by going around to Congress and saying provocative things needs to stop immediately.