zlacker

It could be that Microsoft is leveraging them to bring him back. This board may seem mercurial at the moment, but we really, truly, and honestly still do not have the big picture yet.

>>tysam_+(OP)
In the first (I think) episode of halt and catch fire, Joe tells IBM that they have their source code. IBM being IBM sends a legion of lawyers to their smallish company trying to scare the shit out of them.

I feel like it be like that, but instead of a legion, legions.

And OpenAI is scared.

>>tysam_+(OP)
How are they leveraging them? My understanding is Microsoft has no power over the board.

>>abi+p6
They who control the gpus control the universe. There is a great chip shortage. If MS breaks the lease agreement with OpenAI (based on some pretext about governance) OpenAI won't be able to do any work nor will they be able to serve customer requests for the next year while they litigate this in court. Microsoft holds all the cards because they own the data centers.

>>abi+p6
OpenAI needs the Microsoft partnership

>>abi+p6
As a for instance, and I don't know, but it's plausible Microsoft has full license to use all tech, is the cloud operating it, and has escape clauses tied to "key persons".

That combination could mean firing the CEO results in Microsoft getting to have everything and OpenAI being some code and models without a cloud, and whatever people that wouldn't cross the street with Altman.

I do not know about OpenAI's deal with Microsoft. But I have been on both sides of deals written that way, where I've been the provider's key person and the contract offered code escrow, and I've been a buyer that tied the contract to a set of key persons and had full source code rights, surviving any agreement.

You do this if you think the tech could be existential to you, and you pay a lot for it because effectively you're pre-buying the assets after some future implosion. OTOH, it tends to be not well understood by most people involved in the hundreds of pages of paperwork across a dozen or more interlocking agreements.

. . .

EDIT TO ADD:

This speculating article seems to agree with my speculation, daddy has the cloud car keys, and key person ouster could be a breach:

Only a fraction of Microsoft’s $10 billion investment in OpenAI has been wired to the startup, while a significant portion of the funding, divided into tranches, is in the form of cloud compute purchases instead of cash, according to people familiar with their agreement.

That gives the software giant significant leverage as it sorts through the fallout from the ouster of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. The firm’s board said on Friday that it had lost confidence in his ability to lead, without giving additional details.

One person familiar with the matter said Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella believes OpenAI’s directors mishandled Altman’s firing and the action has destabilized a key partner for the company. It’s unclear if OpenAI, which has been racking up expenses as it goes on a hiring spree and pours resources into technological developments, violated its contract with Microsoft by suddenly ousting Altman.

https://www.semafor.com/article/11/18/2023/openai-has-receiv...

>>abi+p6
Surely Microsoft can terminate their Azure access? Why piss off your largest supplier?

>>abi+p6
Contracts are only worth their language if parties are willing to fight for them. Taking on Microsoft and hoards of angry billionaires with a piece of paper separating you from them might be more of a war than they expected.

>>_boffi+x5
OpenAI isn't scared, OpenAI quit already. The remnants and their false king Ilya are beyond what the word scared is capable of describing though, in terms of the level of abject horror they are certain to face the rest of their entire lives even if they run away now. This will never escape them and nobody involved with this decision will ever work in tech again, or on any board of any organization. I hope they saved up for retirement.

>>icelan+sc
Contracts were made to be broken. Its always about who is more powerful, the law was designed for the wealthy to win every time.

>>abi+p6
Riddle me this: what is an AI research lab without access to exascale compute? Who’s cloud infrastructure do they depend on fully right now?

>>dougmw+Ei
This is everything. MSFT has no de jure power but all the de facto power.

>>abi+p6
They can probably threaten to pull their funding, immediately (or in a few months) bankrupting the company

>>gizmo+m8
If that's true why did they even fund openai. Why not just beat them at making LLMs

>>gizmo+m8
> If MS breaks the lease agreement with OpenAI

The first thing OpenAI would ask a court for is a preliminary injunction to maintain the status quo while all of this works out in court. IANAL.

>>Davidz+g51
When there’s a gold rush don’t be the one mining gold be the one selling shovels.

>>anonym+Pd1
The MS servers somehow can become buggy and work 10 000 times slower due to errors and bugs after a failed patch that takes months to find and fix

>>rvba+1G1
That's asking for a contempt of court charge and jail time for Satya Nadella (though more likely just multi million dollar daily fines for MS).

>>gizmo+m8
> If MS breaks the lease agreement with OpenAI

If that happens. AMZN, or GOOG will be all over that.