zlacker

It seems ironic that the research paper that started it all [0] deals with "costly signals":

> Costly signals are statements or actions for which the sender will pay a price —political, reputational, or monetary—if they back down or fail to make good on their initial promise or threat

Firing Sam Altman and hiring him back two days later was a perfect example of a costly signal, as it cost all involved their board positions.

There's an element of farce in all of this, that would make for an outstanding Silicon Valley episode; but the fact that Sam Altman can now enjoy unchecked power as leader of OpenAI is worrying and no laughing matter.

[0] https://cset.georgetown.edu/publication/decoding-intentions/

>>bambax+(OP)
This event was more than just a costly signal. The costly signal would have been "stop doing what you're doing or we'll remove you as ceo" and then not doing that.

But they did move forward with their threat and removed Sam as CEO with great reputational harm to the company. And now the board has been changed, with one less ally to Sam (Brockman no longer chairing the board). The move may not have ended up with the expected results, but this was much more than just a costly signal.