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Microsoft was blindsided by OpenAI's ouster of CEO Sam Altman

submitted by aarond+(OP) on 2023-11-17 23:42:38 | 697 points 247 comments
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5. WestCo+R3[view] [source] 2023-11-18 00:03:12
>>aarond+(OP)
Link to MS statement https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2023/11/17/a-statement-from...

In my opinion, I'd say the shortness and lack of details backs up the story that they had no idea. You'd see way more words if a marketing department had it's hands on something like this. This was 100% a get something out asap job.

9. eatbit+W4[view] [source] 2023-11-18 00:08:27
>>aarond+(OP)
dupe? doesn't say much beyond what we learn in the actual release

>>38309611

25. swalsh+t6[view] [source] 2023-11-18 00:15:32
>>aarond+(OP)
Greg Brockman has also left: https://twitter.com/gdb/status/1725667410387378559
39. taftst+49[view] [source] 2023-11-18 00:26:07
>>aarond+(OP)
Microsoft has a "Cloud + AI" division [1]. I wouldn't be surprised to see Sam Altman at or near the top of that organization come Monday.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_engineering_groups#C...

59. dang+8c[view] [source] 2023-11-18 00:39:16
>>aarond+(OP)
Related ongoing thread:

Satya Nadella's Statement on OpenAI - >>38312355

and for completeness I suppose (though at the moment they're #1 and #2):

OpenAI's board has fired Sam Altman - >>38309611

Greg Brockman quits OpenAI - >>38312704

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77. SilasX+yh[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-18 01:08:45
>>paxys+q7
Just for once I’d like to see such a statement look like, “You sheep probably want a comment on today’s news. We’re not doing that. We’re just content to buy up all the shares you’re panic-dumping. Looking forward to flipping them back to you next week when you panic in the other direction.”

(Assuming they have some plan that gives them the flexibility to trade shares directly on the market like that. I think $GME had something like this?)

Edit: And, of course, actually mean it, unlike Caroline Ellison and the $22 FTT: https://twitter.com/carolinecapital/status/15892874579753041...

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79. quickt+Ih[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-18 01:09:12
>>IAmNot+Ra
You have it backwards, the not for profit entity owns the for profit entity. From Wikipedia:

> OpenAI is an American artificial intelligence (AI) organization consisting of the non-profit OpenAI, Inc.[4] registered in Delaware and its for-profit subsidiary corporation OpenAI Global, LLC.[5]

IKEA [0] and Rolex [1] are structured in a similar manner, although different since they’re not US based.

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stichting_INGKA_Foundation

[1] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hans_Wilsdorf#Hans_Wilsdorf_...

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95. samspe+kk[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-18 01:24:09
>>grpt+t5
Confirmed by a second news source https://www.semafor.com/article/11/17/2023/openai-board-fire...

"Microsoft, which has invested billions in OpenAI, was blindsided by Altman’s firing, Axios reported and Semafor confirmed."

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108. hm-nah+wn[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-18 01:44:34
>>hm-nah+6k
There it is!!

There it is!!

“I look forward to building AGI with you.”

vs.

“Together, we will continue to deliver the meaningful benefits of this technology to the world.”

https://blogs.microsoft.com/blog/2023/11/17/a-statement-from...

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129. robgib+Ru[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-18 02:39:03
>>hm-nah+6k
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o9CGm7rgilE&lc=Ugzcn8AOCsMHD...

This comment on the OpenAI DevDay video aged really well:

> @JustinHalford: Some odd tension coming from Sam. I’m sensing some tension in the Open AI/Microsoft partnership.

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137. j-bos+1x[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-18 02:55:48
>>asimpl+Wq
Say hello to Manna: https://marshallbrain.com/manna
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147. thepas+aC[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-18 03:32:13
>>samspe+Wc
For anybody, like me, who was wondering who is actually on their board:

>OpenAI is governed by the board of the OpenAI Nonprofit, comprised of OpenAI Global, LLC employees Greg Brockman (Chairman & President), Ilya Sutskever (Chief Scientist), and Sam Altman (CEO), and non-employees Adam D’Angelo, Tasha McCauley, Helen Toner.

Sam is gone, Greg is gone, this leaves: Ilya, Adam, Tasha, and Helen.

Adam: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Adam_D'Angelo?useskin=vector

Tasha: https://www.usmagazine.com/celebrity-news/news/joseph-gordon... (sorry for this very low quality link, it's the best thing I could find explaing who this person is? There isn't a lot of info on her, or maybe google results are getting polluted by this news?)

Helen: https://cset.georgetown.edu/staff/helen-toner/

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180. Intral+251[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-18 07:26:19
>>morale+3D
> Have you read any news about Mozilla's budget in the past 10 years or so?

Revenue/Expenses/Net Assets

2013: $314m/$295m/$255m

2018: $450m/$451m/$524m

2021: $600m/$340m/$1,054m

(Note: "2017 was an outlier, due in part to changes in the search revenue deal that was negotiated that year." 2019 was also much higher than both 2018 and 2020 for some reason.)

2018 to 2021 also saw their revenue from "Subscription and advertising revenue"— Representing their Pocket, New Tab, and VPN efforts to diversify away from dependence on Google— Increase by over 900%, from $5m to $57m.

https://foundation.mozilla.org/en/who-we-are/public-records/

Seriously, Mozilla gets shat on all the time, presumably because they're one of the few sources of hope and therefore disappointment in an overall increasingly problematic Internet landscape, and I wish they would be bigger too, but they're doing fine all things considered.

Certainly I wouldn't say their problems are due to this particular apsect of their legal structure.

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182. upward+y61[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-18 07:43:22
>>aleph_+zF
Helen Toner is well-known as well, specifically to those of us who work in AI safety. She is known for being one of the most important people working to halt and reverse any sort of "AI arms race" between the US & China. The recent successes in this regard at the UK AI Safety Summit and the Biden/Xi talks are due in large part to her advocacy. She is well-connected with Pentagon leaders, who trust her input. She also is one of the hardest-working people among the West's analysts in her efforts to understand and connect with the Chinese side, as she uprooted her life to literally live in Beijing at one point in order to meet with people in the budding Chinese AI Safety community.

Here's an example of her work: AI safeguards: Views inside and outside China (Book chapter) https://www.taylorfrancis.com/chapters/edit/10.4324/97810032...

She's at roughly the same level of eminence as Dr. Eric Horvitz (Microsoft's Chief Scientific Officer), who has similar goals as her, and who is an advisor to Biden. Comparing the two, Horvitz is more well-connected but Toner is more prolific, and overall they have roughly equal impact.

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188. YetAno+cb1[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-18 08:24:58
>>kcb+5b
It is already happening: >>38316378
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218. belter+OG1[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-18 12:37:45
>>Sosh10+Rm
Preverse it is: "IKEA’s 15 years of tax evasion and fraud via the Netherlands" - https://www.europarl.europa.eu/doceo/document/E-9-2021-00517...
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225. jowea+iY1[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-18 14:25:39
>>morphe+1C
> it wouldn't make any sense for a for-profit to own a non-profit due to the no private inurement requirement)?

The most obvious example is the corporate foundation, but if we believe the first result from a search you're right in they are controlled but not owned by the for-profit:

> A for-profit cannot own a nonprofit because a nonprofit has no owners. However, a for-profit can set up a structure in which it effectively has control over the nonprofit, subject to applicable laws, including those regarding private inurement, private benefit, and corporate self-dealing

> https://nonprofitlawblog.com/can-a-nonprofit-own-a-for-profi...

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244. upward+HN8[view] [source] [discussion] 2023-11-20 10:59:03
>>bluebl+sG1
> What's the best place for a non-expert to read about this?

Thank you for your interest! :) I'd recommend skimming some of the papers cited by this working group I'm in called DISARM:SIMC4; we've tried to collect the most relevant papers here in one place:

https://simc4.org

In response to your question:

At a high level, the academic consensus is that combining AI with nuclear command & control does not increase deterrence, and yet it increases the risk of accidents, and increases the chances that terrorists can "catalyze" a great-power conflict.

So, there is no upside to be had, and there's significant downside, both in terms of increasing accidents and empowering fundamentalist terrorists (e.g. the Islamic State) which would be happy to utilize a chance to wipe the US, China, and Russia all off the map and create a "clean slate" for a new Caliphate to rule the world's ashes.

There is no reason at all to connect AI to NC3 except that AI is "the shiny new thing". Not all new things are useful in a given application.

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