zlacker

While I don’t know what is happening in OpenAI, from my experience(long enough to have an opinion), top people often leave when the employer is doing well or passing the last hurdle because, by that time the employer has gained adequate presence and brand identity that anyone leaving can immediately end up in top FAANG or equivalent Corps with much better benefits and of course pay/equity and other things.

Only time employees leaving is a bad sign had been when the company had been in zombie mode too long(few years) and haven’t delivered anything yet or still in alpha/beta stage with crappy deliveries no one is using or has no significant uptake.

Also, if there are financial difficulties, then a lot of people leave in droves and some actually come back after finances get better.

>>n_ary+(OP)
FAANG would probably be viewed as a step down from OpenAI at this point (or at least until today)

>>n_ary+(OP)
yea you missed the thing that happened lol

>>siquic+f
Nothing wrong with greener pastures/lower steppes

>>n_ary+(OP)
I don’t know if people realise that there really isn’t any more prestigious place to work at right now than OpenAI. You don’t leave there for a better opportunity.

>>siquic+f
Which is exactly why you can expect a good position and lots of benefits.

>>9dev+j1
They can ask for huge salary bumps which may provide better opportunities for thier families.

>>9dev+j1
Unless Sam is already forming a new AI company.

>>9dev+j1
> I don’t know if people realise that there really isn’t any more prestigious place to work at right now than OpenAI. You don’t leave there for a better opportunity.

My guess is they know something we don't Or they assume sama being fired means the trajectory of OpenAI as a company has changed or is likely to change significantly?

>>ZiiS+52
OpenAI pay is competitive enough (remember the articles last week about $10M offers?) and there's still plenty of room for their stock to go up. IPO or full acquisition by MS would both translate to a huge payday.

>>Ludwig+V1
does not matter, even CEO of Facebook role is a step down. This is a different game. I doubt these people have to work anymore. they are after something else.

>>n_ary+(OP)
> While I don’t know what is happening in OpenAI

Would it really have been so hard to find out Sam Altman just got fired without notice?

>>9dev+j1
People who work at places of high prestige, especially in senior roles, are often the kind of people who take part in creating those "better opportunities". :)

>>9dev+j1
>there really isn’t any more prestigious place to work at right now than OpenAI. You don’t leave there for a better opportunity.

it's like you wrote this comment yesterday, and not in the context of what has happened

>>dkarra+n3
If you are a bright mid-career FAANG engineer, you probably don’t have to work. You can just move to Vietnam and live comfortably on your savings.

And people who are invested into “social impact” still care about their wealth and well-being despite living luxurious lives by the standards even of the developed world, let alone all other countries.

>>Ludwig+9a
Err, how do you just “move to Vietnam” as a non-Vietnamese citizen? You’d need a visa and thus a job surely?

Like, sure you’d be able to live off your savings if you were allowed to stay in the country, but most countries have a short limit on a tourist visa and then you’d need to leave…

>>fsckbo+W6
It’s like we’re talking about the motivation of people who left a company and thereby created the very context that happened?