-make the board look incompetent (going fourth string for interim CEO, attempting a merger with competitor, flimsy reasons given for firing)
-get a viable alternative (Microsoft offering to hire everyone)
-get open AI to unify (employees signing petition, including ilya eating crow in front of the world)
It’s playing beautifully for him and I’m just left wondering how much of this is him / his team effectiveness at controlling narrative vs people acting relatively independently and in their own self interest
As someone else pointed out there’s huge opps the board is missing
-new CEO grabbing bull by the balls, reassuring employees and partners and leading away from the path of Sam
-board reassuring the same
-sharing real reasons why Sam was let go
-anti Sam campaign (if he deserved this surely there are credible people to testify to it)
They lost the initiative and now I don’t see how the board gets out of this pickle
I mean they did that and then fired her like 24 hours later. I think the board just looks massively incompetent because they are. Even if them firing Sam was fair, they handled it and the aftermath with a complete lack of communication or a plan. It demonstrates on its own that they are not up to the task of ensuring public transparency and accountability. I wouldn't want them overseeing a piss up at a brewery never mind skynet.
They just hold steady. Nothing to gain by backing down.
OpenAI employees were calling people at 1am and forcing them to sign the letter. Classic peer pressure, it doesn't mean support, it means keeping your options open, and they won't all leave. Nobody knows what's gonna happen but they might attract new talent which isn't aligned with Sam and would lose a lot by being public right now.
It's been less than 48 hours, Sam and allies are running wild with their playbook, but I will wait a bit longer to see if the board has anything to say.
We all saw it, the false deadlines, the endless media pressure outside the company, the pressure inside the company to make everyone sign some worthless letter before all the facts had time to come out.
Still, the board still has a winning move; just wait it out. In time, cooler heads will prevail.
Look, we still don't know where this is all going, but even what we do know is concerning. This article captures some of the nuance in this situation: https://www.latimes.com/business/technology/story/2023-11-20...
Specifically, the shady dealings with Saudi Arabia, and Sam's pattern of lying and manipulation(See https://www.newcomer.co/p/give-openais-board-some-time-the for more details).
And I think this is why the board's job is so tough. There isn't a smoking gun here. Rather, Sam's vision for OpenAI is much different from the board's. The board believes in their mission, to ensure AI benefits all of humanity. Meanwhile, Sam has been treating OpenAI like yet another startup, the exact thing OpenAI was founded to counter.
We'll get the full details in time, but my guess is we're going to hear about a gradual breakdown in communication, sleight lies, omissions, and half truths, all of which impeded the boards ability to oversee the for-profit company, and thus caused them to lose trust in Sam's ability to lead.
I guess the alternative is to believe that 4 rational human beings colluded, risking their lives and integrity to oust Sam from OpenAI. Maybe that is what happened? Ilya certainly didn't mind backtracking when he saw the cost of the cure, but he's a smart guy, he didn't just side with the board because they tricked him. Based on everything I've read about Sam, I think it's just as likely he played fast and loose, and got burned in the process.