I feel like flagging this just given the asshattery of CNBC's framing of the title "Sam Altman attends secretive annual meeting with the world’s elite."<p>Fucking spare me with this conspiracy theory bullshit. Yes, it's fully fine to question the details of what goes on in meetings like this, and how they influence public policy. But it's sad that someone who ostensibly considers herself a "journalist" would push it like this. And I really push back against the characterization that "The annual Bilderberg event is shrouded in mystery". It's not really that mysterious, it's individuals having a private meeting.
Looking at the actual (published, not so secret) list of participants, I think it's interesting that:<p>- some people are included who I think most people think of in terms of what they _used_ to do (e.g. Henry Kissinger, Eric Schmidt)<p>- though it's under the Chatham House rule and is being called "secretive", they have a number of journalists / news editors on the list<p>- though AI is on the agenda, this year (unlike some prior years) it doesn't look like they have any actual AI researchers qua researchers. Demis Hassabis is on the list, but given the rest of the list, one suspects its for his CEO/leadership role rather than as a researcher specifically. In previous years, Bengio and Lecun have been involved. And this year there are professors / fellows, but all in econ or public policy fields.<p><a href="https://www.bilderbergmeetings.org/meetings/meeting-2023/participants-2023" rel="nofollow">https://www.bilderbergmeetings.org/meetings/meeting-2023/par...</a>
> The tech titans will be joined by political heavyweights including former U.S. Secretary of State Henry Kissinger<p>I rewatched The Inventor[0], sounded like Kissinger should be no where near these tech talks. One of the interviewees mentioned something along the lines of having his experience of speaking with other leaders as an asset, but had no room to speak when it came to healthcare/tech. They then proceeded to play an audio clip of Kissinger not being able to easily turn on the speakerphone. To be fair on the latter, if the interview was from around 2019 when the doco came out, he was in his 90s.<p><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inventor:_Out_for_Blood_in_Silicon_Valley" rel="nofollow">https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Inventor:_Out_for_Blood_in...</a>
>That has sparked conspiracy theories, similar to those leveled against high-level meetings like the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, by those who claim attendees are seeking to establish a “new world order.” However, the event’s organizers say that the discrete nature of it is to allow for greater freedom of discussion.<p>I don't think I've ever experienced such levels of gaslighting from the corporate media until this. Am I crazy for thinking we have few reasons to trust these "elites" or even believe what they say?
It's not secretive. They publish who attend and what is the agenda. They just have Chatham house rules (you can' talk freely about what was discussed, but you can't say who said what).<p>This years list of topics include AI, Ukraine, China, etc.<p>Just a list of participants HN readers should know:<p>Stacey Abrams, Peter Thiel, Eric Schmidt (in the steering committee)<p>other participants:<p>Demis Hassabis, Sam Altmam, Garry Kasparov, Satya Nadella, Anne Applebaum,..
AI experts believe AI will have the power to destroy the world. I am not surprised that AI experts are meeting with powerful people to discuss things privately.
Unbelievable that some people here are more upset about some headline writer’s use of the word “secret”, then the fact that a totally unaccountable supra-national body is inviting Sam Altman to create a global agenda for AI that will likely mainly benefit Sam Altman.
According to HN audience, the probability of Davos billionaires to conspire towards maximization of profit and control is non-existent. Evidence is false news. Only copium and hopium are the secret sauce of the future. Samuel Altman is the real wizard of the Golden billion.
Hey, is someone tested the new toy demoed at Davos that reads your mind and shares it with your boss for performance evaluation? It looked promising, I want to invest.