this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
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The deal to bring Sam Altman back to OpenAI has fallen apart, Former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear will now take over as interim CEO (www.theverge.com)
submitted 1 year ago by cwagner@beehaw.org to c/technology@beehaw.org
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In today’s OpenAI clown show news

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[–] joel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 60 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Without knowing the real reasons behind it, it's very difficult to hold an opinion on the board's decisions

[–] cwagner@beehaw.org 34 points 1 year ago (2 children)

I don’t mind so much what they did with firing him, but how they did it, and everything since. It just seems extremely unprofessional and disorganized.

[–] thebardingreen@lemmy.starlightkel.xyz 2 points 1 year ago

This is what I expect from the anarchist hacker spaces I used to hang out in in Oakland, not from a multibillion dollar company.

[–] anachronist@midwest.social 16 points 1 year ago (1 children)

I don't really fully understand it either but Altman has been a questionable character for a long time.

I remember when he took over ycombinator, Paul Graham boasted "if Altman got dropped onto an island full of cannibals, within three months he'd be king of the cannibals." PG thought this was terrific but I thought "why the hell would you leave someone like that in charge of your VC fund?" Altman had gotten the spot running the firm after failing out of his startup. He failed out of ycombinator and then managed to do that thing where he inexplicably failed at bigger and bigger things raising more money somehow every time.

It sounds like that's what he's doing now quite honestly. Rumor is he's been beating around the middle east raising billions for a new AI chip startup. Honestly while Elon has normalized CEOs wandering off and doing other things, the fact is that for any normal employee that alone would be grounds for dismissal, especially if he was being evasive with the board about his plans.

[–] joel@lemmy.dbzer0.com 7 points 1 year ago (3 children)

I'm not gonna say I know much about his history, but I am surprised so many people are jumping to take his side in this debacle. I would've thought in this day and age that people would be a bit more sceptical of CEOs.

[–] kmaismith@lemm.ee 3 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I am with you. I’m still apprehensive about a lot of the how OpenAI handles data, but this is the first move in a while that has made me consider their product; to take this kind of risk means someone in charge actually believes in the thing beyond just being a golden goose.

[–] drkt@feddit.dk 1 points 1 year ago

I'm not taking his side so much as I'm just taking whatever side is inflicting damage to OpenAI

[–] NattyNatty2x4@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

Musk still has legions of fan boys; I'm not terribly surprised the eternally optimistic futurism fan boys have found another company-face to worship

[–] VentraSqwal@links.dartboard.social 13 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Right? I know Sam Altman sucks but I don't know if he was fired for more profit or less, or what exactly is going on. I'm not sure how to react to these articles besides surprise and bemusement.

[–] nevernevermore@kbin.social 8 points 1 year ago

besides surprise and bemusement

idk this seems like a pretty good reaction to me

[–] fmstrat@lemmy.nowsci.com 5 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Rumor is since the board aren't investors, they're not looking for money from the venture.

[–] clutch@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 year ago

Worse, some of them are Ethical Altruists, just like Sam Bankman Fried of FTX

[–] berg@lemm.ee 5 points 1 year ago (3 children)

Why does he suck? I know nothing about him.

[–] canis_majoris@lemmy.ca 34 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Crypto bro, wants to scan everybody's eyes with AI, has this weird startup that puts eye scanners in orbs and places them around the world where people are curious and stare into them having their eyes scanned.

He's just a weird dude in general.

[–] berg@lemm.ee 12 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago) (1 children)

Just because I were curious enough to check this out, from Wikipedia:

Worldcoin aims to provide a reliable way to authenticate humans online, to counter bots and fake virtual identities facilitated by artificial intelligence. Using a distribution mechanism for its cryptocurrency similar to UBI, Worldcoin attempts to incentivize users to join its network by getting their iris scanned using Worldcoin's orb-shaped iris scanner.

[–] canis_majoris@lemmy.ca 24 points 1 year ago (1 children)

Does it also mention that he basically deployed it exclusively in the third world, in places that the regulations were/are lax?

[–] jarfil@beehaw.org 1 points 1 year ago* (last edited 1 year ago)

I think you got it backwards. The scanning was available everywhere, including the US... where the lack of privacy regulations allowed him to siphon biometric data without giving any crypto in exchange.

He isn't a "crypto bro", he's a guy who hyped the danger of AI in order to get as much biometric data as possible, everywhere.