Source: a breakthrough spearheaded by OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever enabled a model that could solve basic math problems, stoking excitement and concern

One day before he was fired by OpenAI's board last week, Sam Altman alluded to a recent technical advance the company …

The Information 2023-11-23 Jon Victor

Discussion

@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
Extremely concerning! https://www.reuters.com/...
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
Am hearing from multiple sources, including an OpenAI spokesperson, that this Reuters report, “Sam Altman's ouster at OpenAI was precipitated by letter to board about AI breakthrough,” is not true https://www.reuters.com/...
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
Q*Anon
@pourmecoffee @pourmecoffee on x
The Last Thanksgiving “OpenAI CEO Sam Altman's four days in exile, several staff researchers sent the board of directors a letter warning of a powerful artificial intelligence discovery that they said could threaten humanity” https://www.reuters.com/...
@andrewcurran_ Andrew Curran on x
It won't die. Ahead of Altman's firing “staff researchers sent the board of directors a letter warning of a powerful artificial intelligence discovery that they said could threaten humanity” called ‘Q*’ https://www.cnbc.com/... [image]
@amir Amir Efrati on x
🚨OpenAI made a major technical breakthrough before Altman firing and we figured out what it is. Meet Q* (Q star) & the method Ilya Sutskever developed to get over LLM limitations around training data. https://www.theinformation.com/ ... @jon_victor_ [image]
@binarybits Timothy B. Lee on x
If any OpenAI employees want to leak juicy secrets to me, I promise I will explain the underlying technical details in a less convoluted and confused way than this. https://www.reuters.com/... [image]
@_akhaliq @_akhaliq on x
OpenAI Made an AI Breakthrough Before Altman Firing, Stoking Excitement and Concern https://www.theinformation.com/ ... One day before he was fired by OpenAI's board last week, Sam Altman alluded to a recent technical advance the company had made that allowed it to “push the veil…
@nxthompson @nxthompson on x
Ahead of Altman's firing, Open AI researchers sent a letter to the board saying that they had had a breakthrough that could threaten humanity. The breakthrough? It could actually do math — which is something these systems can't do well at all. https://www.reuters.com/...
@gfodor @gfodor on x
Ok, at 10 minutes I'll conjecture Q* represents the ability to use reinforcement learning to train a neural network to be a cost function for an arbitrary state space transition through a domain, upon which you can then run A* with on novel problems. (In this case, math)
@fxshaw Frank X. Shaw on x
🤣
@sparr_ml Shane Parr on x
Q* is a reference to the optimal q-function, the fixed point to the bellman operator. This means that OpenAI must have an RL project gaining steam, for them to use that as the internal codename for a project. Interesting!
@blader Siqi Chen on x
“Q* ... a breakthrough in [OpenAI]'s search for superintelligence” was the trigger for this entire season of succession [image]
@bindureddy Bindu Reddy on x
As suspected, OAI invented a way to overcome training data limitations with synthetic data When trained with enough examples, models begin to generalize nicely! Great news for open source and decentralized AI - we are no longer beholden to the data rich companies 💃❤️ [image]
@drjimfan @drjimfan on x
It's pretty obvious that synthetic data will provide the next trillion high-quality training tokens. I bet most serious LLM groups know this. The key question is how to SUSTAIN the quality and avoid plateauing too soon. The Bitter Lesson by @RichardSSutton continues to guide AI..…
@aravsrinivas Aravind Srinivas on x
fwiw: i don't believe it's dangerous at all. it's a natural next step. it's like calling “image-flipping” or “random crop” is dangerous. Synthetic data generation has existed since @ylecun trained MNIST classifiers. https://www.reuters.com/...
@lokijulianus @lokijulianus on x
“Q* predicted this”
@mattyglesias Matthew Yglesias on x
Really think the board should have told their side of the story *before* losing the power struggle https://www.reuters.com/... [image]
@8teapi @8teapi on x
Q* > can solve grade school math problems > so what, what's the big deal? > why did the researchers send the letter ? > why did Ilya freak out Because OpenAI already has a stack where they can predict intelligence based on compute and data. These disclosed this with the GPT4...
@dylan522p Dylan Patel on x
So there is a friendly race happening now between @natolambert and @finbarrtimbers to explain Q star is to us plebs. Subscribe to both to see who does it first... and better. https://finbarrtimbers.substack.com/ https://www.interconnects.ai/ [image]
@peterjliu Peter J. Liu on x
Sounds like OpenAI got some good numbers on GSM8K, possibly MATH. Speculating, but there is a ‘star’ in STaR https://arxiv.org/..., a technique that fine-tunes a model to its own (better) outputs, which some people see as ‘self-improvement’. https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
@nickadobos Nick Dobos on x
👀 Details on Q* These are some ridiculous scaling numbers. Did GPT just get 100x faster?????? [image]
@alyssamvance Alyssa Vance on x
Why is this only being mentioned now? Is it even true? Doesn't it contradict what Emmett said? I wish things made more sense....
@austen @austen on x
“Given vast computing resources... the new model was able to solve certain mathematical problems... though only performing math on the level of grade-school students.” I'm sorry but how is the evidence that AGI is coming, “computer does math good?” [image]
@iamgingertrash @iamgingertrash on x
With Q*, OpenAI have likely solved planning/agentic behavior for small models Scale this up to a very large model and you can start planning for increasingly abstract goals It is a fundamental breakthrough that is the crux of agentic behavior [image]
@stevesi Steven Sinofsky on x
Exclusive: OpenAI researchers warned board of AI breakthrough ahead of CEO ouster // While many will mock this over “grade school” math my favorite part is that in a 340 word story it had two sentences disavowing their “source(s)”. • Reuters could not independently verify the...
@smt_solvers @smt_solvers on x
@dylan522p ... Sounds like what @DEShawResearch started at with ANTON in late 2000s. Pretrain, make clones with low bits randomized, train each in parallel - when one hits a performance boundary condition serialize it. You then can do A* search in a priority queue.
@tljstewart Timothy L.J. Stewart on x
openai applied Q* process reward model [image]
@scobleizer Robert Scoble on x
The AI people I talk to keep talking about synthetic data as a way to compete with OpenAI. Another one I keep hearing about? Symbolic AI. Or other new AIs. Trains on a lot fewer NVIDIA cards. Or trains a much better model on same number of cards. Anyone know more?
@_karenhao @_karenhao on x
Interesting that it was concerns of an algorithm called Q* that fed in part into Sam Altman's ouster, per Reuters. Some of my sources say they would not consider Q* a big breakthrough. Keen to hear from other researchers in the company about their opinion. https://www.reuters.com…
@packym Packy McCormick on x
Can't believe OpenAI figured out AGI before Apple figured out how to make Siri do anything
@amir Amir Efrati on x
This was the backdrop of the past week's drama at OpenAI.
r/singularity r on reddit
OpenAI Made an AI Breakthrough Before Altman Firing, Stoking Excitement and Concern
@ezraklein Ezra Klein on threads
My thinking right now is very similar to Derek's. This is just an annus horribilis year for effective altruism. EA ended up with two big swings here. One of the richest people in the world. Control of the board of the most important AI company in the world. Both ended in cat…
@dkthomp Derek Thompson on threads
On the effectiveness of effective altruism: - With the implosion of FTX, the principle of “earn to give” seemed to motivate SBF. But when rubber hit road, SBF's instinct to maximizing earnings led to pure old fashioned theft. - With the near implosion of OpenAI, an attempted mu…
@vkhosla Vinod Khosla on x
As to @OpenAI's structure being constantly referred to as odd, “Tata Trusts” are a group of public charities by the Tata family members in India. These trusts are non-profit entities, and they play a significant role in the governance and ownership of the Tata Group, which is...
@emilychangtv Emily Chang on x
One of the biggest tasks ahead for OpenAI is building a new board - one that includes women: The names of several women were floated including @laurenepowell and @marissamayer but deemed too close to @sama. @CondoleezzaRice also considered but dismissed. We're told the new...
@dseetharaman Deepa Seetharaman on x
On Friday, OpenAI's board of directors said it fired @sama because of his lack of candor. The board had grown so untrusting of Altman that they felt it necessary to double check nearly everything he told them, we reported yday. https://www.wsj.com/...
@robaeprice Rob Price on x
“Our goal is to make a mankind-loving AGI,” said Sutskever, the company's chief scientist. “Feel the AGI,” he said. “Repeat after me. Feel the AGI.” https://www.wsj.com/...
@djtgallagher Dan Gallagher on x
A wedding invite with a 457-page homework assignment pretty much says it all. [image]
@rrpre Rachel Premack on x
It would be much more impactful for the OpenAI board to include people who work in industries that could be upturned by AI, like trucking, than selecting someone from a hollow hyperfixation on identity politics. https://www.bloomberg.com/... [image]
@abebab Abeba Birhane on x
“This unwavering loyalty [to Sam & Greg] stems from a combination of fear of retribution and the allure of potential financial gains through OpenAI's profit participation units.” anonymous post from former OpenAI employees [image]
@bobmcmillan Robert McMillan on x
In which @dseetharaman and I explain why thousands of these started showing up at OpenAI's offices last year — and the debate that was lurking in the background during this week's remarkable events at the company. https://www.wsj.com/... [image]
@timnitgebru @timnitgebru on x
OpenAI says the board will have women but they just can't find them! It's so hard because the natural makeup of a board is all white men, and it is especially important to include the men who had to step down from previous positions for their statements about women's aptitude.
@dseetharaman Deepa Seetharaman on x
Still the saga exposed a series of fault lines in the AI world around the handling of current & hypothetical risks / who is heard / which risks get more resources. Those divisions over what is and isn't safe are only getting deeper. https://www.wsj.com/...
@dseetharaman Deepa Seetharaman on x
For months, @bobmcmillan & I have been working on a piece about effective altruism, its influence in the AI field & the tensions it has sparked inside OpenAI and DeepMind. The events of the past few days presented a news hook. https://www.wsj.com/...
@_danilo Danilo on x
This is the correct take the basic constraint of using power is that your transaction happens in the larger context of OTHER parties with power The board took a dramatic path and made zero case to their partners and the public about why it was necessary, so they were overridden
@edzitron Ed Zitron on x
@bobmcmillan @dseetharaman Wait what? I don't see anything about it in the original materials at all https://openai.com/... [image]
@tobyordoxford Toby Ord on x
A thread in the OpenAI chaos that slipped under the radar yesterday is this letter by anonymous former employees alleging a long history of deception and manipulation by Altman and Brockman: [image]
@paulg Paul Graham on x
OpenAI's leaders, employees, and code are all about to migrate to Microsoft. Strenuous efforts enable them to remain working for a nonprofit instead. New York Times reaction: “A.I. Belongs to the Capitalists Now.”
@fack.bsky.social Fack on bluesky
you're about to see a fire-sale bsky.app/profile/tech... [embedded post]
@rm_infinite Rohan Malhotra on x
fastest a company has gone from 86 bil to zero to 86 bil also now you know why everybody signed the letter within hours, sam is cool and all, but that brownstone and silver porsche!
@westcoastbill Bill Lee on x
LFG! [image]
@nearcyan Near on x
this values openai at $111,688,312 per employee [image]
@barret_zoph Barret Zoph on x
What an incredible company OpenAI is to work at. I have never seen so many people so committed to the mission of the company and band together when things go wrong. Huge props the the leadership team for navigating these incredibly difficult times.
@chiefaioffice @chiefaioffice on x
OpenAI is unstoppable. 1 week ago - $90B 5 days ago - $0 Today - $86B
@qmaqdk @qmaqdk on x
@KateClarkTweets @heetermaria So we've all just decided to ignore the non-profit thing?
@kateclarktweets Kate Clark on x
More good news for OpenAI employees. Thrive Capital still intends to lead a tender offer valuing the company at $86 billion. Ashton Kutcher's VC firm is also expected to participate. w/ @heetermaria https://www.theinformation.com/ ...
@ftraderft @ftraderft on x
@KateClarkTweets @heetermaria That's a bit absurd that same valuation still holds another example of vc chasing and not doing due diligence and not waiting for more information on what transpired
@heetermaria Maria Heeter on x
Lots of things hung in the balance this week... including OpenAI employees' second houses. The $86B share sale (w/ participation from Ashton Kutcher's venture fund) is back on https://www.theinformation.com/ ... Scoop w/ @KateClarkTweets
@johnsonthought1 @johnsonthought1 on x
Gotta pay that tribute to the mob boss...
@antonio Antonio Altamirano on x
@KateClarkTweets @heetermaria Ashton Kutcher investing is always a very good sign of great AI technology. No question about it.
@mgsiegler M.G. Siegler on threads
I think part of it was to keep pressure applied in the last hours to ensure Sam was back with a new board. But perhaps — just perhaps ;) — part was also a clear signal to the SEC that there was no market funny business going on. No, none at all.
@mgsiegler M.G. Siegler on threads
I still believe that hiring Sam was a last resort strategy, so it wasn't all completely fake. But I also believe it wasn't the main goal from the get go. And the PR strategy the last few days made that pretty clear. They really, really, really wanted you to believe they *might…
@goldman Jason Goldman on threads
From various distances I've seen Bret kill for 20 years and it is exceptionally annoying how competent he is. I am as critical as anyone of the twitter/elon situation and even that was a case where he was surrounded by lunatics on both sides and did what we supposed to given his…
@juditpetho Judit Petho on threads
If he creates a strong, balanced board at OpenAI, he will become one of the most formidable Chairs around. How he navigated the Twitter acquisition was masterful. No notes.
@drewhamlin Drew Hamlin on threads
There's a good reason why the only thing everyone could agree on in this whole debacle was Bret. In addition to his experience — how rare is 3x founder plus F500 CTO, CPO, and co-CEO?! — ask anyone lucky enough to know or have worked with him and you'll get back a long list of p…
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on threads
For those who aren't familiar with the Silicon Valley soap opera, this is a crossover. btaylor was the dude who was chair of Twitter, which he shoved down Elon Musk's throat after the always irritated (and irritating) billionaire tried to squirrel out of the deal. He's now Ope…
@jossfong Joss Fong on threads
funny that larry summers once said there aren't as many women in top stem positions because we lack “aptitude at the high end” and now he's replaced women in a top stem position because of male aptitude for recklessness
@mgsiegler M.G. Siegler on threads
One question, which I'm sure we'll never get a real answer on, is how much the “hiring” was really just a comms strategy. Two key drivers: 1) save MSFT stock price when markets opened Monday (worked) 2) give Sam leverage to get back to OpenAI after the initial board discussions …
@crumbler Casey Newton on threads
If you want to consider the funniest possible outcome for OpenAI, look up what happened the last time Bret Taylor served as board chairman of a tech company
@mergesort Joe F on threads
Sam Altman returning with this board composition really does make it seem like this was about a fight between Sam and the AI safety people and not about Poe-related pettiness. https://twitter.com/...
@crumbler Casey Newton on threads
RIP the Microsoft advanced AI research team (2023-2023)
@sama Sam Altman on x
i love openai, and everything i've done over the past few days has been in service of keeping this team and its mission together. when i decided to join msft on sun evening, it was clear that was the best path for me and the team. with the new board and w satya's support, i'm l…
@satyanadella Satya Nadella on x
We are encouraged by the changes to the OpenAI board. We believe this is a first essential step on a path to more stable, well-informed, and effective governance. Sam, Greg, and I have talked and agreed they have a key role to play along with the OAI leadership team in ensuring…
@openai @openai on x
We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D'Angelo. We are collaborating to figure out the details. Thank you so much for your patience through this.
@eshear Emmett Shear on x
I am deeply pleased by this result, after ~72 very intense hours of work. Coming into OpenAI, I wasn't sure what the right path would be. This was the pathway that maximized safety alongside doing right by all stakeholders involved. I'm glad to have been a part of the solution.
@gdb Greg Brockman on x
Returning to OpenAI & getting back to coding tonight.
@satyanadella Satya Nadella on x
At the end of the day, the greatest privilege of my job is working with people who are driven by mission. These last 5 days, I saw people across OpenAI remaining calm and resolute in driving their mission despite all that was happening around them. And I saw people across...
@gdb Greg Brockman on x
we are so back [image]
@eshear Emmett Shear on x
ceo any% 55:32 — new record???
@mchammer MC Hammer on x
Salute and congratulations to the 710 plus @OpenAI team members who gave an unparalleled demonstration of loyalty, love and commitment to @sama and @gdb in these perilous times it was a thing of beauty to witness. Salute 🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂🥂
@cb_doge @cb_doge on x
𝕏 Traffic Update! 𝕏 surpasses Instagram and Facebook by a significant margin in driving traffic through Google. [image]
@kantrowitz Alex Kantrowitz on x
Imagine if Zuck actually fought Musk in a cage this year, that would've put it over the top lol
@ilyasut Ilya Sutskever on x
There exists no sentence in any language that conveys how happy I am:
@alexandr_wang Alexandr Wang on x
I'm excited to see @sama, @gdb and the gang back together at @OpenAI. They have undeniably changed the world over the past year, and I expect them to continue setting an impressive pace in AI for building, shipping, and innovating on safety. Nature has healed 🍁
@tszzl Roon on x
>I don't know whether the board was right to fire Altman. It certainly has not made a public case that would justify the decision. But the nonprofit board was at the center of OpenAI's structure for a reason. It was supposed to be able to push the off button. But there is no off.…
@miramurati Mira Murati on x
💙
@profnoahgian Noah Giansiracusa on x
OpenAI announces new board that's entirely white male as white male CEO returns. Prior CEO (also white guy) says is “pathway that maximized safety”. Yet for years the ppl calling out the harms of AI have been predominately women (esp women of color). 🤦‍♂️ https://www.rollingstone…
@gdb Greg Brockman on x
Amazing progress made today. We will come back stronger & more unified than ever:
@inafried Ina Fried on x
Well played @eshear [image]
@emilybell Emily Bell on x
OpenAI fires women on the board- (board chair who oversaw fuck up stays🤷‍♀️) - joining board is *Larry Summers* who once said women don't have the same ‘intrinsic aptitude’ for STEM, and associated with Jeffrey Epstein even after he was convicted of sex offences
@paulg Paul Graham on x
Little known fact: most emails within OpenAI consist entirely of heart emojis.
@jeremiahdjohns Jeremiah Johnson on x
The entire OpenAI fiasco is a great demonstration that not only are AI doomers wrong, they're also incredibly bad at tactical decision making and counterproductive to their own cause. They're worse than wrong, they're incompetent.
@jerrycap @jerrycap on x
$ABNB CEO would prefer to work at OpenAI 🚩 [image]
@jerrycap @jerrycap on x
OpenAI is nothing without $MSFT GPUs. 💜 💜 💜
@gavinsbaker Gavin Baker on x
The OpenAI saga will be over when: 1) The new 9 person board is in place. The eventual composition of this board will be critical for the balance between safety and speed - essentially the goals of the nonprofit vs. the goals of the for-profit. 2) The investigation is...
@thesamparr Sam Parr on x
Bret Taylor is about to join the board at OpenAI. Check out this guy's background: - Created Google Maps - Started Friendfeed, sold to Facebook - CTO of FB - Founded Quip. Sold to Salesforce for $750m - Co-CEO of Salesforce - Chairman of board of Twitter - Board at Shopify...
@ericabrescia Erica Brescia on x
Anyone want to hazard a guess at the value of the productivity lost over this OpenAI debacle? Think about the countless hours of time for major tech execs, news outlets, employees, VCs, lawyers, startup execs, etc that have lost most or all of the past 5 days. What a waste.
@lessin @lessin on x
With OpenAI's new non-profit board, they just retired their ‘cult’ founding identity in favor of being a ‘business’. — now it needs a proper employment contract with its CEO, to actually pay him, drop the religious AGI crap, and move on. [image]
@benlandautaylor Ben Landau-Taylor on x
In my entire life I have never seen a stronger case of Gell-Mann amnesia than rationalists believing the account of the OpenAI board's motives from literally the guy who wrote the Scott Alexander hitpiece.
@gergelyorosz Gergely Orosz on x
Is OpenAI a nonprofit? A for-profit? If a nonprofit, why are employees heavily incentivized to generate (large) profits to have their equity (profit participation units) be worth their issuing value? If a for-profit, why a nonprofit holding company? Why issue PPUs not equity?
@ahcastor Amy Castor on x
The VCs won. The old board is replaced with Sam-friendly members, and OpenAI is now just another startup whose goal is to grow like a cancer.
@woke8yearold @woke8yearold on x
If you think AI hype is big now you won't be able to believe 2024. OpenAI is going to drop a much more powerful model and new ways to use LLM agents will come online. Normies will begin to lose their minds.
@lacker Kevin Lacker on x
The board of OpenAI is now mostly former Facebook CTOs
@robertmsterling Robert Sterling on x
People say that Wall Street is incestuous, but I'm convinced there are no more than 20-30 executives in the tech industry, and they all just rotate among boards like a weird corporate polycule. Consider OpenAI. Its previous board included: - The leader of a Musk-backed... [image]
@billym2k Shibetoshi Nakamoto on x
the openai drama has taught the world that even the smartest people are still emotionally high schoolers
@emollick Ethan Mollick on x
Thinking about this excellent paper on how having a clear sense of corporate purpose boosts company performance, I expect we will see a supercharged OpenAI now. The focus on their mission and the apparent unity around their leadership must be clarifying. https://papers.ssrn.com/.…
@immad @immad on x
OpenAI's board's move is still so confusing: Why did the board fire Sam? Why did Ilya go along with the firing and then switch sides? Did Adam lead the firing or Helen? Will we ever know the answer?
@glenngabe Glenn Gabe on x
I shared the other day that this was playing out like a movie script, and even though Microsoft hired Altman, I thought it could reverse (based on many employees saying they would leave). Well, here we are. I've always thought staying at OpenAI would be the best move for him.
@seq23 Sequoia Taylor on x
He got fired on Friday, Started another job Sunday, and was back in the old job by Wednesday
@amasad Amjad Masad on x
they say if you arrange seats like a board room a bret taylor appears
@_arnauds_ Arnaud Schenk on x
I'm not close enough to the whole OpenAI/Sama stuff to fully evaluate the situation, but it's clear to me that a lot of the criticisms about Sam amount to “this person seems incredibly effective at achieving his goals”. Seems like a decadence-aligned thing to criticise!
@andyyen Andy Yen on x
Controversial take. #OpenAI runs on Azure. It's biggest investor, customer, and partner is Microsoft. For all intents and purposes, it's already Microsoft and the opposite of open and non-profit. Upcoming board and governance changes will only strengthen Microsoft control.
@jendudley Jen Dudley-Nicholson on x
2020: Microsoft is going to acquire TikTok? Wild. 2023: Microsoft is going to acquire OpenAI staff? Wild.
@georgemayer George Mayer on x
The government should seriously consider stripping openAI of their nonprofit status. It's a farce and we should not allow them to operate under that veil.
@jpmaheu JP Maheu on x
Excellent news. Also, given the defining role @OpenAI plays in our collective future, it is necessary that @btaylor , @sama and the board of OAI add some diversity to its new nascent board.
@eliotwb Eliot Brown on x
OpenAI: we're a nonprofit but let's set up a for-profit that is governed by our board motivated by the nonprofit's mission and not financial gain (board takes action. Hurts finances of for-profit/investors/staff) OpenAI: This structure may not work well
@hesherman Howard Sherman on x
Awoke to discover that for a few minutes overnight, I was apparently named chief executive of OpenAI, but I slept through it. Nonetheless, hoping I get a decent severance package.
@kantrowitz Alex Kantrowitz on x
They parachuted @sama onto an island of cannibals and he became their king. Nailed it, @paulg.
@damonlinker Damon Linker on x
All the drama at OpenAI nicely reminds us that no matter how technically brilliant people are, they can also be lacking in human wisdom. Which is why those same technically brilliant people could easily destroy humanity without intending to.
@krmaher Katherine Maher on x
“AI that benefits all humanity” without a single woman or person of color on the OpenAI board. Where have I heard this story before?
@baldingsworld @baldingsworld on x
Seen some defense of the board actions and specifically character. Problem is even if board wanted just a change in leadership and direction there is a proper way and a Cluster* inducing wildly incompetent way to go about these actions. They shouldn't be in charge of anything
@dmimno David Mimno on x
The OpenAI drama feels like what would happen if a Sociology department accidentally became a Fortune 500 company
@boazbaraktcs Boaz Barak on x
Was excited to join @openai for its scientific achievements, but now even more for its people. The love of folks for one another and efforts to save the company is like nothing I've seen before. Talking science with @ilyasut has been joy & privilege. Looking forward to more! ❤️
@rinireg Regina Rini on x
Probably best outcome for OpenAI. It traded on nice PR of being non-profit even while becoming annex of Microsoft. Now the pretense is gone: OpenAI is just another tech company that will ultimately put profit ahead of safety, like Google, Meta etc. Best to have that unambiguous.
@woke8yearold @woke8yearold on x
As an AI safetyist my revealed emotional preference is that I support OpenAI and Altman. I was worried and sad when it looked like it would die and felt happy when it was reversed. Make of that what you will
@shyamalanadkat Shyamal on x
huge thank you to the entire openai leadership team for making this happen🩵 one team, one mission.
@brian_callaci Brian Callaci on x
In the end Microsoft got what they wanted. They don't need to directly own the assets or employ the staff to control and profit from OpenAI, and unlike vertical integration, vertical contracts give them a sweet liability shield too. Ask McDonald's.
@micsolana Mike Solana on x
a complete history of the openAI drama from friday + board explainer + effective altruism + final questions pertaining to SV groupthink (why were confirmed freedom-oriented Startup Lovers just celebrating the total hegemony of microsoft?). happy thanksgiving, don't join a cult.
@lissijean Melissa Perri on x
I love how all the “Microsoft acquired OpenAi for $0” write ups are now obsolete after one day.
@rareperkins SuperRare Perkins on x
The standoff for power at OpenAI feels very *human*
@landemore Hélène Landemore on x
This whole @openAI drama proves that we need a better, more democratic way to govern AI, including where it is designed and engineered, i.e., the company level. Stay tuned for the “Governing (with) AI” @Yale conference in early 2024. More news soon. Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
@elidourado Eli Dourado on x
Surprised that OpenAI isn't converting to a C-corp but I guess that can happen at a later date. As an investor (and I suppose as an employee) you'd still have to worry about a crazy board rug-pulling you at any moment, particularly just when the AIs are getting good.
@rabovitz Rony Abovitz on x
An @OpenAI observation: with the current conclusion of the drama, it appears that the bandage has been ripped from the altruism/safety vs. capitalism conflict. Full-on capitalism appears to have won. This will likely ripple across AI and tech in many ways. @GaryMarcus...
@danprimack Dan Primack on x
The bottom line of the OpenAI saga: With great power comes great responsibility. And then, sometimes, even more power.
@0xgaut Gaut on x
The greatest investment of all time isn't Bitcoin. It's buying OpenAI secondaries on Monday and selling them back today.
@chrisjbakke Chris Bakke on x
Congratulations to Sam Altman and the OpenAI team. A great outcome, but I do wonder if all this job hopping over the last 4 days will affect Sam's ability to land a Product Director role at Microsoft in the future.
@haldaume3 Hal Daumé III on x
Glad to hear that OpenAI has rehired Sam Altman, who was not even candid with them, and rid the board of those pesky women. Seems like they'll be well poised to really combat today and tomorrow's challenges of negative impacts of AI on society.
@stefanfschubert Stefan Schubert on x
“To me, [the OpenAI corporate drama] seems like a pretty clearly positive outcome overall...” [due to a consideration that changed within a day] Example of how many are overconfident re what the consequences of this kind of complex events will be. https://www.lesswrong.com/... [i…
@jamestitcomb James Titcomb on x
(presumably?) RIP Bret Taylor and Clay Bavor's AI startup, announced 10 months ago with one LinkedIn post and no update since [image]
@hpc_guru @hpc_guru on x
Win for @Microsoft, and also for Twitter Much of the drama played out on Twitter as notable financiers, Silicon Valley honchos and key players from Nadella to Altman himself posted declarations, exchanged messages, liked each others' posts and otherwise advocated their position
@gergelyorosz Gergely Orosz on x
An undeniable outcome from the OpenAI events is that Sam Altman will face far far more scrutiny over his future actions than ever before. And this... is not a bad thing? It's is, after all, the second time he's been sacked from a CEO role, by formerly close allies, after all.
@nxthompson @nxthompson on x
Old Open AI board composition: AGI research and discussion group. New Open AI board composition: a panel at Davos.
@merettm Jakub Pachocki on x
we're back
@alfred_lin Alfred Lin on x
Over the last few days, the world witnessed what makes @sama and @gdb outlier founders. We've been inspired by their unwavering optimism and commitment to their mission & impact. We're excited to see what the brilliant @OpenAI team builds next. We are proud to be their partners.
@ivanthek @ivanthek on x
I see lots of commentary proclaiming Microsoft as a big winner here. My view is Nadella deftly protected MSFT's investment, and put Humpty back together, with better defenses against a repeat attack. He kept calm, and can now carry on. The big win is the great publicity.
@gdb Greg Brockman on x
Incredible gratitude to @satyanadella, @kevin_scott, & the Microsoft team for their unwavering support during this trying chapter.
@bashmohandes Mohamed Elsherif on x
Question, why everyone at OpenAI only use lower case letters? Is that some sort of an inside joke or internal culture thing!
@dazjdm Daz on x
Pepito is back home (07:08:27)
@erinkwoo Erin Woo on x
delighted to inform you all that a literal fire alarm went off at the OpenAI celebration party, fire trucks showed up, and firefighters declared it a false alarm. (a smoke machine from the party triggered it.) we love a metaphor! more here from the team: https://www.theinformatio…
@benioff Marc Benioff on x
Congrats to @openai! Great to see the good guys win! ❤️ [image]
@nearcyan Near on x
sam once drank from my diet coke can, and after I confronted him about this directly he told me I could “take another one - they're free”. he said he was sorry but i could tell he didn't mean it
@eugenewei Eugene Wei on x
I just watched Napoleon. Very touching when he returns from exile in Elba and thousands of soldiers are tweeting “France is nothing without its Emperor” and Napoleon takes the time to quote tweet each with “❤️ ❤️ ❤️”
@nongaap Mike on x
If there's one thing I've learned in 2023, do not underestimate the power & influence of large, undisclosed equity holders. Their vested interest is under wraps for a reason.
@gossithedog Kevin Beaumont on x
Asking Microsoft Copilot about Microsoft's incoming CEO of AI research and it keeps telling me he's a sexual abuser and that OpenAI staff are outraged about his sexual abuse scandal. Your regular reminder that Microsoft Copilot is crap. [image]
@_danielsinclair Daniel Sinclair on x
What kind of compensation package do you even get for being a 72 hour crisis mediator like this? Hope Emmett gets to keep the full salary or parachute, hell even just an hour to take whatever he wants from the office
@pradyuprasad Pradyumna on x
He's the Liz Truss of OpenAI
@arnoldwh Gen.G Arnold on x
gotta love the tech industry - dude dropped in for a few days like [image]
@gergelyorosz Gergely Orosz on x
One thing that stands out is the role of @eshear. At first it was odd why anyone would take what looked like a doomed interim CEO role at the time, and several others passed. But this was the role that now is clear had unappreciated leverage in resolving the situation. Bravo!
@davidsacks David Sacks on x
The rest of America is genuinely befuddled by what Silicon Valley considers “intense work.”
@garymarcus Gary Marcus on x
I am glad to see OpenAI is back in business, and am glad to the continued presence of @adamdangelo and addition of two new parties that I expect to be neutral. Bummed to see no women at all. Hopefully the board will expand in due course. We may never fully know what happened.... …
@elonmusk Elon Musk on x
What tangled webs we weave
@ladidaix @ladidaix on x
in < 1 week: -board got rid of sama -investors blindsided -mira murati is interim CEO -gdb steps down -sama in talks to return -sama scooped by microsoft -95% of openAI asks board to resign -emmett shear in & out as CEO -sama tries to be CEO again -sama rejoins openAI as CEO tbc
@nickkokonas Nick Kokonas on x
Exactly as expected.... same OpenAI, different board and governance. Given the stakeholders, only possible outcome. Very unimpressed (as usual) with 99% of the business press that couldn't, or chose not to, game theory the situation.
@iankar_ Ian Kar on x
.@LHSummers on the OpenAI board is 🔥 Have always been a huge fan. Knows a lot about tech (interviewed him about crypto once), & experienced board member (longtime Board member at Square). And with AGI's impact on labor & the economy, his perspective will be super important
@reedalbergotti Reed Albergotti on x
Adam D'Angelo stays on the OpenAI board. Another interesting twist
@bentossell Ben Tossell on x
Agreement in principle Sam to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D'Angelo. Interesting to see Adam still on. People dunking on him may have over reacted
@nixcraft @nixcraft on x
@OpenAI None of this makes any sense. Why fire him in the first place? You never explained it. Now rehired. The whole board is like a bunch of kids.
@parismarx Paris Marx on x
Having won this battle and got himself a new board, Sam Altman has ensured he'll never be overruled or held back in his ambitions at the company again. OpenAI is Sam Altman's fiefdom, and he certainly won't get any pushback from the monarch over at Microsoft.
@wholemarsblog @wholemarsblog on x
You could argue that the OpenAI board breached their fiduciary duty by slowing down the world's safest models and inadvertently propping up less “safe” options [image]
@justindross JD Ross on x
I'm happy for Sam and especially for the whole OpenAI team Certainly remain interested to hear Adam's story one day — managed to say nothing publicly and retain the board seat, so at minimum he believes strongly in the importance of his role on the board.
@neilcybart Neil Cybart on x
So the new OpenAI board will be two mediators who don't seem to have any obvious reason for being on this board, and a key person who (we believe) wanted Altman out. Nothing like what the press said was going to happen. [image]
@mattmedved Medved on x
Sam and Satya are the winners here. Sam consolidates control of OpenAI with a supportive board. Satya proves his savvy and leverage while protecting his investment. What took place the past 2 days may define the next decade.
@baddatatakes @baddatatakes on x
Pretty incredible that the [current] result is that Larry summers ends up on the board of OpenAI. I definitely don't have any concerns!
@mattbinder Matt Binder on x
Larry Summers?! lmao i wonder why he's so interested in AI... [image]
@briansolis Brian Solis on x
Sam Altman returns to OpenAI as CEO. @btaylor joins board as chair. This means that the company will officially (not confirmed) move toward balancing for profit ventures while amplifying governance to earn and re-earn trust. Onward to ChatGPT 5
@danshipper Dan Shipper on x
1. The fact that D'Angelo is still on the board should dispel any of the rumors about all of this somehow being a plot to kill OpenAI for poe's benefit 2. Bret Taylor continues to be one of the most sought after board members in Silicon Valley. He must give good meeting 3....
@hotformoot @hotformoot on x
This was all kinda fun. We should do this more often
@cto_junior @cto_junior on x
Yesss 💯💯💯 Goog next - Fire Jeff Dean, He Joins OpenAI, Sundar acquires OpenAI to hire Jeff back, OpenAI team resigns cause they don't want to live in Sunnyvale, Sundar cancels the deal but the condition is Jeff is made board member of OpenAI
@mudit__gupta Mudit Gupta on x
After using Microsoft teams for a day, Sam realized OpenAI board is easier to live with.
@gergelyorosz Gergely Orosz on x
Why bother watching series when the real world delivers more drama than television possibly could. Congrats to the OpenAI team for what seems to be a resolution to board-level events that felt close to destroying the company. The aftershocks of this will be far-reaching.
@getwired Wesley Miller on x
At least the events of the last several days didn't make Microsoft look stupid. It made Microsoft at least appear far more agile than many might've suspected. It just made OpenAI look bad, and the dead board in particular look incompetent.
@ciphergoth Paul Crowley on x
Can they put Emmett on the OpenAI board?
@gbrl_dick Gabriel on x
on a per hour basis some of the highest value add CEO behaviour of all time lmaooo
@emilychangtv Emily Chang on x
There are still big questions about why this happened, how much was due to petty personal issues/egos vs fundamental disagreements about the future of AI. It's only humanity at stake. So let's hope they figure it out. 🙏
@emilychangtv Emily Chang on x
Big job will be for Bret Taylor as Chair of board, to navigate all these clearly big opinions as they make the transition — something he's got some experience with as former chair of the board of Twitter. Read our developing story here. https://www.bloomberg.com/...
@mchammer MC Hammer on x
He's Baaaaaaaaack Welcome back @sama !!!!
@patrickjblum Patrick Blumenthal on x
The acceleration must continue.
@nickadobos Nick Dobos on x
It's time to build! GPT store is back on!
@joannejang Joanne Jang on x
thank god [image]
@alfred_lin Alfred Lin on x
Love the commitment! Truly legendary!
@openai @openai on x
OpenAI is nothing without its people
@fentasyl @fentasyl on x
Where else but 𝕏 do you get to watch the most important corporate drama play out in real time like this? The MSM hasn't had any role in a single part of this narrative. Love to see them totally obsoleted.
@willdepue Will Depue on x
Satya has shown just incredible leadership, commitment, and faith throughout. Massive thanks and appreciation goes out to Microsoft for their support.
@protosphinx @protosphinx on x
Satya to Sam (Reminder: This is second one after Musk) [image]
@esesci Sedat Kapanoğlu on x
this all could have been an email.
@florian4gamers Florian Mueller on x
It would have been a tremendous opportunity for Microsoft to bring in various AI leaders and hundreds of talented developers. But in the long run, treating partners fairly and being loyal yields the highest returns. They didn't hire away; OpenAI fired. Now they're letting them go
@anammostarac Ana Mostarac on x
“The most entertaining outcome is the most likely”
@ericabrescia Erica Brescia on x
Good. But, wow. To have to go through all of that to get to this point... I feel for the employees and what their last several days must have been like. Hope this new board can better navigate the company through future issues.
@pitdesi Sheel Mohnot on x
wild that one of the 3 people on the board of OpenAI has a product that competes with ChatGPT. TIL Poe stands for “Platform of Experts”
@mucha_carlos Carlos Mucha on x
Larry Summers is one-third of OpenAI's new board?!? [image]
@wholemarsblog @wholemarsblog on x
This board still sucks
@emollick Ethan Mollick on x
Well, that was an interesting few days (not that everything is going back to how it was, or that the implications are clear yet, but everyone can move on to speculating about that next)
@8teapi @8teapi on x
Oh hey glad we got the guy who wanted higher unemployment to solve inflation on our AGI board.
@sindresorhus Sindre Sorhus on x
We still need to know exactly what the board's reasons were and why D'Angelo is on the new board (he was part of the coup and has clear conflict of interest), but I'm happy to see an end to the main drama and them going back to what they do best, AI.
@regulatorynerd Matt Janiga on x
Larry Summers, who said women were worse at math and science because of smaller brains, will sit on the board of the company building artificial intelligence. In other news, government regulators have a long future a head of them in stamping out bias in algorithms, ML and AGI.
@varun_mathur Varun on x
Larry Summers is e/acc. He has had the right things to say about innovative new technologies, going back to even supporting Bitcoin in early 2014. https://archive.ph/kNqFe
@chydee Chidi Okereke on x
You have to be a remarkable leader for most of your team to adamantly stand behind you, and threaten to resign after the board shows you the door.
@zachtratar Zach Tratar on x
Huge. Congrats to everyone at OpenAI about this! The big question now is what will governance look like? Is the non profit dead? Is its charter erased?
@holman Zach Holman on x
the twitch guy rn [image]
@sdw Sebastiaan de With on x
current emotional status [image]
@liron Liron Shapira on x
@OpenAI [image]
@smtuffy Sean Tuffy on x
Larry Summers, former board member of the fraud machine DCG and Jeffery Epstein aficionado, is a key person to ensure the ethical development of AI, apparently
@katebevan Kate Bevan on x
My cynicism over this massive days-long clusterfuck is deeper than the deepest well.
@franklinleonard Franklin Leonard on x
This movie is going to be incredible.
@deeze @deeze on x
Took Jesus three days to come back from the dead and only took Sam two
@mikebenzcyber Mike Benz on x
harumph, I don't have a good take on this, but u can kinda grok that having a slightly chastened OpenAI & not having a commercial censortech squad directly hovering over Altman at MSFT is prolly the best resolution for humanity The biggest W of this saga prolly goes to @grok
@immad @immad on x
I am really impressed by the culture Sam built at OpenAI. Team stuck with him and forced this outcome.
@rickhanlonii Ricky on x
OpenAI board: you're fired Sam Altman: [image]
@joshconstine Josh Constine on x
Honestly, if there was ever going to be a fight to control OpenAI, sort out its board, and get clarity on its mission, we're all better off it happened before the stakes were even higher.
@levie Aaron Levie on x
The industry has an incredible opportunity to usher in a new era of computing. This will be done by insanely ambitious and high-execution operators like Sam and Greg, and ultimately boards that are aligned to a shared mission. Excited for this next chapter!
@emilychangtv Emily Chang on x
Emmett Shear joining the talks was a turning point in the negotiations. He asked the board to provide concrete evidence of Sam's wrongdoing. When they did not do so, he said he could not remain in the CEO role, and helped both sides find common ground to get Sam reinstated.
@alexrkonrad Alex Konrad on x
Emmett Shear's time as OpenAI interim CEO appears to have clocked in at less than one quarter of a Scaramucci.
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
Story on Sam Altman returning to lead OpenAI, with @reckless: We're told that both sides have agreed to an investigation — presumably by an outside, independent law firm — into this whole saga, which seems to be deeply rooted in a very human power struggle. Based on our...
@joshuakushner Joshua Kushner on x
OpenAI has the potential to be one of the most consequential companies in the history of computing. @sama and @gdb possess a profound commitment to the company's integrity, and an unmatched ability to inspire and lead. We couldn't be more excited for them to come back to the...
@alexrkonrad Alex Konrad on x
Unofficial initial OpenAI news tweets vibe check: 1) Sam Altman and Greg Brockman = happy 2) Employees = happy 3) Microsoft = happy 4) The VCs = happy (I know you were worried) 5) The interim CEO = happy 6) Outgoing board = sleepy 5) Elon Musk = “what tangled webs we weave.”
@eladgil Elad Gil on x
My ideal OpenAI board is balance of EA safety, e/acc & other acronyms as well as investors & operators 1. Timnit Gebru 2. Patrisse Cullors 3. Beff Jezos 4. Roon 5. Satya Nadella 6. Sam Altman 7. Claude 2.1, Anthropics latest model 8. The Rock 9. Sofia Vergara
@emilychangtv Emily Chang on x
Another sticking point: Adam being on the board. He will remain on the board for now. In general, agreeing on new board members seemed to be tough — given there are only three to start.
@stokel Chris Stokel-Walker on x
Just so we're clear, OpenAI has said our CEO on Friday is a liar and we're saying so publicly, our CEO to replace him on Saturday isn't good enough so we're replacing her with our CEO on Sunday who we've decided isn't good enough, so let's have the guy we said not to trust back.
@kenrickcai Kenrick Cai on x
“The original [OpenAI post] referred only to ‘Sam’ coming back, before it was edited to include his last name. After an eventful few days that captivated the tech community, it may not have been necessary.” Great line from @alexrkonrad to cap this saga: https://www.forbes.com/...
@bchesky Brian Chesky on x
So happy you're back
@emilychangtv Emily Chang on x
Context on the negotiations to bring Sam back as CEO of OpenAI: The biggest sticking point was Sam being on the board. Ultimately, he conceded to not being on the board, at least initially, to close the deal. The hope/expectation is that he will end up on the board eventually.
@sarahfrier Sarah Frier on x
Bret Taylor certainly has the “board chair during chaos” experience from Twitter/Musk acquisition days...
@peteratmsr Peter Lee on x
Sure it would have been fun having Sam, Greg, and so many others as new Microsoft colleagues. But man, this is a such wonderful outcome for all of us at OpenAI and Microsoft, and for everyone else who cares about the future of AI for all.
@tszzl Roon on x
i have much to give thanks for
@swyx @swyx on x
Finally the OpenAI saga ends and everybody can go back to building! 3 things that turned things around imo: 1. 95% of employees signing the letter 2. Ilya and Mira turning Team Sam 3. Microsoft pulling credits Things AREN'T back to where they were. OpenAI has been through hell...
@btaylor Bret Taylor on x
❤️
@teddyschleifer Teddy Schleifer on x
All of the effective altruists are no longer on the OpenAI board. Take that for what it's worth.
@alexeheath Alex Heath on x
@reckless: “the sole job of this initial board is to vet and appoint a new formal board of up to 9 people that will reset the governance of OpenAI”
@teddyschleifer Teddy Schleifer on x
Funny edit history — they had to clarify that they meant Sam Altman and not some other Sam?!? 🤣🤣🤣 [image]
@alexrkonrad Alex Konrad on x
OpenAI cofounder and (erstwhile?) board director @ilyasut retweeted both the company and @sama. Is he sticking around? [image]
@chandrarsrikant Chandra R. Srikanth on x
OpenAI has had four CEOs in four days
@bchesky Brian Chesky on x
❤️
@teddyschleifer Teddy Schleifer on x
There is a Larry Summers angle to everything, always.
@levie Aaron Levie on x
Insane situation. Fantastic conclusion.
@wbm312 Whitney Merrill on x
Sorry to the folks with the “Msft acquired OpenAI for $0 and no regulatory oversight. They're so smart” bad hot takes.
@sama Sam Altman on x
❤️🫡❤️
@benbajarin Ben Bajarin on x
In any path forward, A LOT of damage control is now necessary to rebuild confidence lost.
@inafried Ina Fried on x
Of note: There is also an agreement that there will be an independent investigation into the events that led to Altman's original ouster, a source familiar with the matter tells Axios https://www.axios.com/...
@luke_metro @luke_metro on x
Congrats to every openAI employee who can once again resume their shopping for a second home
@fxshaw Frank X. Shaw on x
@levie just in time for thanksgiving conversations everywhere.
@karaswisher Kara Swisher on x
Sources: fruitful negotiations between OpenAI's board and Sam Altman's side are taking place; Microsoft is being kept apprised and is likely to get board seats
r/technology r on reddit
Sam Altman Is Reinstated as OpenAI's Chief Executive
r/ChatGPT r on reddit
Sam Altman back as OpenAI CEO
r/LivestreamFail r on reddit
48 hours after being hired, former Twitch CEO Emmett Shear is no longer CEO of OpenAI
r/singularity r on reddit
Finally ..
r/artificial r on reddit
Sam Altman has officially returned as CEO of OpenAI.
r/neoliberal r on reddit
Sam Altman to return as OpenAI CEO

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