zlacker

> I don't really understanding why the workforce is swinging unambiguously behind Altman.

Maybe it has to do with them wanting to get rich by selling their shares - my understanding is there was an ongoing process to get that happening [1].

If Altman is out of the picture, it looks like Microsoft will assimilate a lot of OpenAI into a separate organisation and OpenAI's shares might become worthless.

[1] https://www.financemagnates.com/fintech/openai-in-talks-to-s...

>>FartyM+(OP)
That sounds like a reasonable assessment, FartyMcFarter.

>>FartyM+(OP)
Yep.

What people don't realize is that Microsoft doesn't own the data or models that OpenAI has today. Yeah, they can poach all the talent, but it still takes an enormous amount of effort to create the dataset and train the models the way OpenAI has done it.

Recreating what OpenAI has done over at Microsoft will be nothing short of a herculean effort and I can't see it materializing the way people think it will.

>>leetha+n5
Microsoft has full access to code and weights as part of their deal.

>>leetha+n5
Except MSFT does have access to the IP, and MSFT has access to an enormous trove of their own data across their office suite, Bing, etc. It could be a running start rather than a cold start. A fork of OpenAI inside an unapologetic for profit entity, without the shackles of the weird board structure.

>>FartyM+(OP)
Yeah, "OpenAI employees would actually prefer to make lots of money now" seems like a plausible answer by default.

It's easy to be a true believer in the mission _before_ all the money is on the table...

>>jdminh+W5
Even if they don't, the OpenAI staff already know 99 ways to not make a good GPT model and can therefore skip those experiments much faster than anyone else.

>>leetha+n5
Correct. This is all really bad for Microsoft and probably great for Google. Yet, judging by price changes right now, markets don’t seem to understand this.

>>FartyM+(OP)
My estimate is that a typical staff engineer who'd been at OpenAI for 2+ years could have sold $8 million of stock next month. I'd be pissed too.

>>jdminh+W5
> Even if they don't, the OpenAI staff already know 99 ways to not make a good GPT model and can therefore skip those experiments much faster than anyone else.

This unequivocally .... knowing not how to waste a very expensive training run is a great lesson

>>jdminh+W5
Source for your statement?

>>leetha+n5
This comment is factually incorrect. As part of the deal with OpenAI, Microsoft has access to all of the IP, model weights, etc.

>>belter+U7
https://www.wsj.com/articles/microsoft-and-openai-forge-awkw...

> Some researchers at Microsoft gripe about the restricted access to OpenAI’s technology. While a select few teams inside Microsoft get access to the model’s inner workings like its code base and model weights, the majority of the company’s teams don’t, said the people familiar with the matter.

>>FartyM+(OP)
But doesn't Altman joining Microsoft, and them quitting and following, put them back at square 0? MS isn't going to give them millions of dollars each to join them.

>>fizx+y7
No way it is this much.

>>FartyM+(OP)
Surely they're already extremely rich? I'd imagine working for a 700 person company leading the world in AI pays very well.

>>FartyM+(OP)
Ugh, I’m never been more disenchanted with a group of people in my life before. Not only are they comfortable with writing millions of jobs out of existence, but also taking a fat paycheck to do it. At least with the “non-profit” mission keystone, we had some plausible deniability that greed rules all, but of fucking course it does.

All my hate to the employees and researchers of OpenAI, absolutely frothing at the mouth to destroy our civilization.

>>averag+b81
Only rich in stocks. Salaries are high for sure but probably not enough to be rich by Bay Area standards

>>grumpl+tA
That's why they'd rather Altman rejoins OpenAI as mentioned.

>>maxlam+qk1
Sure, but by pretty much any other standard? Over $170k USD puts you in the top 10% income earners globally. If you work at this wage point for 3-5 years and then move somewhere (almost anywhere globally or in the US), you can afford a comfortable life and probably work 2-3 days a week for decades if you choose.

This is nothing but greed.

>>FartyM+QC1
The behavior of various actors in this saga indeed seems to indicate 'Altman and OpenAI employees back at OpenAI' as the preferred option by those actors over 'Altman and OpenAI employees join Microsoft in masse'.