The reporting on this in the last two days has been bizarre and of such shoddy quality, particularly from The Verge.<p>So many articles with no real sources saying the board was desperate for him to come back, or reneged on their decision, or that there would be an exodus of employees!<p>I’m glad the board wasn’t browbeaten by Sam and his cohort of VC friends.<p>I am also incredibly doubtful this will have any meaningful impact in terms of engineers/researchers who will choose to leave. Most of the core group of researchers and engineers joined OpenAI the non-profit, not OpenAI the LLC, that is to say I assume many have strong feelings about safety around AI, which judging by the employee testimonies in the recent Atlantic article Sam acted negligently towards.
I’m glad people in this thread are supporting the OpenAI board in this decision. There seems to be too much celebrity worship around Altman from all the tech/crypto bros.<p>Also, any new competition started by Altman would be good for the ecosystem in general.
'OpenAI’s "primary fiduciary duty is to humanity," not to investors or even employees.'<p>I'm so proud of the board for sticking to their principles over profit. This is a huge victory for all of us, and a chance for everyone to come together and approach AGI safely and for the benefit of all.
> So, here's what happened at OpenAI tonight. Mira [CTO and interim CEO] planned to hire Sam and Greg back. She turned Team Sam over past couple of days. Idea was to force board to fire everyone, which they figured the board would not do. Board went into total silence. Found their own CEO Emmett Shear<p><a href="https://twitter.com/emilychangtv/status/1726468006786859101" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://twitter.com/emilychangtv/status/1726468006786859101</a>
“My understanding is that Sam is in shock”<p><a href="https://x.com/emilychangtv/status/1726468006786859101?s=46" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://x.com/emilychangtv/status/1726468006786859101?s=46</a>
Emmett Shear:<p>"Motte: e/acc is just techno-optimism, everyone who is against e/acc must be against building a better future and hate technology<p>Bailey: e/acc is about building a techno-god, we oppose any attempt to safeguard humanity by regulating AI in any form
around and around and around"<p><a href="https://twitter.com/eshear/status/1683208767054438400" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://twitter.com/eshear/status/1683208767054438400</a>
Counter-opinion to mainstream here:
- backstabbing CEO and founder like that has very bad optics and karma
- given ceo was taking part in all hiring many employees will be more attached to him, oh btw he also knows pay and structure of all
- board knows they made themselves unhireable at any positions of managerial control/oversight. Rather than realize loss now they better kick the can forward
- headcount fallout will only be quantified 3-6 months after Sam sets new company, current assessment is premature
- for some some months company will follow momentum set by previous CEO
I’ve heard Emmet speak before at Startup School nearly a decade ago. He is very technically minded and a good leader. They could do a lot worse, at the very least I think he will keep an open mind.
> threatening to set off a broader wave of departures to OpenAI’s rivals, including Google, and to a new venture Altman has been plotting in the wake of his firing.<p>This is really the question: how many employees will stay, go to existing competitors, or go to AltmanAI.<p>Without brain drain from OpenAI, Altman's new venture will not be nearly as interesting. (Though given that three senior scientists resigned already...it seems probable.)<p>---<p>Does OpenAPI not have any non-compete agreements? Is that why this is possible?
OpenAI never found a true identity under Sam. Sam treated pursued hyper growth (treating it like a YC startup) and many in the company, including Ilya, wanted it to be a research company emphasizing AI safety.<p>Whether you're Team Sutzkaver or team Altman, you can't deny it's been interesting to see extremely talented people fundamentally disagree what to do with godlike technology.
Unless there is one ultra genius who holds all the knowledge to create AGI staying at OpenAI - there will be no “safe AI” built by OpenAI that saves the world. They are likely to lose all the key talent left, over the next month as they cluster around Sam and his Newco or go out and start their own.