this post was submitted on 22 Nov 2023
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[–] makyo@lemmy.world 67 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I hate everything about this: the lack of transparency, the lack of communication, the chaotic back and forth. We don’t know now if the company is now in a better position or worse.

I know it leaves me feeling pretty sick and untrusting about it considering the importance and potential disruptiveness (perhaps extreme) of AI in the coming years.

[–] Max_P@lemmy.max-p.me 12 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Given the rumors he was fired based on undisclosed usage of some foreign data scraping company's data, it ain't looking good.

Now that there's big money involved, screw ethics. We don't care how the training data was acquired.

Now that there's big money involved, screw ethics. We don't care how the training data was acquired.

I dont care about ethics here, if the money would be excluded as well.

IF they would live up to their goals they settled for its fine.

But its similar to google, back in the days, with "dont be evil".

[–] devils_advocate@lemmy.ml 3 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Can I find out more about these rumors somewhere?

[–] Max_P@lemmy.max-p.me 2 points 11 months ago

I've tried to find it but I can't seem to find it. There's been a thread on Lemmy somewhere about it that linked to a thread on Blind where someone claiming to be working at OpenAI having heard that from the board.

But, it's ultimately just rumors, we don't know for sure. But it was at least pretty plausible and what I would expect the board of a very successful AI company to fire the CEO for, since the company is obviously doing really well right now.

[–] Bob_Robertson_IX@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

That's not how rumors work.

[–] devils_advocate@lemmy.ml 2 points 11 months ago

What? Rumors work by people discussing them.

I didn't ask for proof.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 50 points 11 months ago (4 children)

On the one hand, the board was an insane cult of effective altruism / longtermism / LessWrong, so fuck them. But on the other hand, this was a worker revolt for the capitalists, which I guess shouldn’t be surprising since tech workers famously lack class consciousness.

[–] grue@lemmy.world 12 points 11 months ago (1 children)

an insane cult of effective altruism / longtermism / LessWrong

I'm out of the loop. What's the problem with those things?

[–] agressivelyPassive@feddit.de 13 points 11 months ago

It's basically the paperclip maximizer combined with human arrogance/hubris. Just skim the criticism sections of the articles linked.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 11 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

People are asking what is wrong with these cults. It’s a lot to cover so I won’t try. People who follow the podcasts Tech Won’t Save Us or This Machine Kills will already be familiar with them. Here’s an article relevant to the moment that talks about them a little: Pivot to AI: Replacing Sam Altman with a very small shell script

[–] Majoof@aussie.zone 6 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Genuinely confused by your first statement (in particular effective altruism). What does that have to do with the board?

Not an attack, just actually clueless.

[–] Spedwell@lemmy.world 1 points 11 months ago

Several of the [former] board members are affiliated with the movement. EA is concerned with existential risk, AI being perceived as a big one. OpenAI's nonprofit was founded with the intent to perform research AI safely, and those members of the board still reflected that interest.

[–] HairHeel@programming.dev 1 points 11 months ago (1 children)

famously lack class consciousness

How much money do you suppose the average OpenAI employee makes? What class do you imagine they’re part of?

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 3 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

I’m sure the developers make the lower half of six figures, but they still have to sell their labor to survive, so they’re still working class.

I’ve been an SF Bay Area software developer for almost thirty years, so I know them well. I consider us members of the professional–managerial class (PMC). We generally think we’re “above” the working class (we’re not), and so we seldom have any sense of solidarity with the rest of the working class (or even each other), and we think unionization is for those other people and not us.

When Hillary Clinton talked about the “basket of deplorables,” she was talking to her PMC donors & voters about the rest of the working class, and we eat that shit up. Most of my peers have still learned no lessons from her election defeat, preferring to blame debunked RussiaGate conspiracy theories.

[–] Sabre363@sh.itjust.works 46 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I guess the entire workforce calling the board incompetent twats and threatening to quit was actually effective.

[–] dm_me_your_boobs@lemm.ee 32 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Sounds like they got together and forced their hand. Wonder if there's a term for that?

[–] Animoscity@lemmy.world 26 points 11 months ago

Maybe some type of group or team. Or union. Nah that will never stick

[–] Diplomjodler@feddit.de 32 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I guess this will have to do as entertainment until GRRM finishes his damn book.

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 9 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Any day now! I have a friend that got hyped up every time George published another chapter from WoW, but I just refuse to read any of them. I want a complete book. I’m not sure he’s got any idea of how to finish his own story.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I didn't know he wrote for World of Warcraft

[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 3 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I know you’re joking, but it stands for Winds of Winter if anyone is confused.

[–] SpaceNoodle@lemmy.world 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)
[–] NOT_RICK@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

Yeah that’s my feeling as well

[–] BitSound@lemmy.world 29 points 11 months ago

Man what a clusterfuck. Things still don't really add up based on public info. I'm sure this will be the end of any real attempts at safeguards, but with the board acting the way it did, I don't know that there would've been even without him returning. You know the board fucked up hard when some SV tech bro looks like the good guy.

[–] davel@lemmy.ml 11 points 11 months ago
[–] fragnoli@lemmy.one 5 points 11 months ago

Fucking Kendall Roy on the OpenAi board or something

[–] OprahsedCreature@lemmy.ml 5 points 11 months ago

And the lord is back in his fiefdom

[–] KinNectar@kbin.run 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I maintain that this had something to do with a disagreement over which commercial applications are permissible for GPT-4, and that Sam Altman somewhere along the line negotiated a deal that allowed some actor to participate in one of the "forbidden applications" by proxy via a seemingly unrelated agreement. I'm talking Financial Forecasting (High Frequency Trading), Military, and Policing/Surveillance. Now that Sam's back and unfettered, I'm guessing we are going to see some of those applications come out into the light.

[–] ultranaut@lemmy.world 2 points 11 months ago

Why do you maintain this? None of the details that have come out so far have suggested this, or not that I have seen.