OpenAI: the Sam Altman drama explained

The board of OpenAI fired their CEO, Sam Altman, in a surprise move on November 17th, 2023. Sam Altman tried to return to the company. Over the next 5 days, the drama played out in the public eye. Sam tried to return, announced he was going to Microsoft, tried to return again, etc.

This video summarizes some of the developments, then goes through some frequently asked questions that people posed during this time. This video was filmed 6 days after the firing and the situation will likely continue to evolve.

#samaltman #openai #drama

sama: “i loved my time at openai….”

gdb: “Sam and I are shocked and saddened by what the board did today….”

sama to miramurati: “[heart]”

“If Ilya held his opinion that loosely, then who was the driving force at the board table?”

sama: “...i’m looking forward to returning to openai, and building on our strong partnership with msft.”

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#samaltman #openai #drama

0:00 Intro
0:19 Contents
0:24 Part 1: History
0:47 Why OpenAI is a nonprofit
1:29 OpenAI creates for profit entity in 2019
2:14 OpenAI salaries are sky high
3:06 Anthropic split from OpenAI
3:26 Part 2: Timeline
3:32 Part 2a: Introduction to OpenAI board members
4:24 The board fires Sam Altman
4:46 Shockwaves through the tech industry
5:32 Sam Altman tries to get rehired
6:09 Microsoft steps in (Satya Nadella)
6:34 Reaction of OpenAI employees
6:50 Mira Murati as interim CEO
7:13 Employees call on board to resign
7:55 Part 2b: Was Ilya the mastermind?
8:33 AGI theory
8:54 Was Adam the mastermind?
9:41 Getting unfired a second time
10:12 Part 2c: Sam and Greg return to OpenAI
10:38 New board composition
11:13 Drama during Thanksgiving break
11:33 Part 3: FAQs
11:35 Q1: Did OpenAI develop AGI?
11:58 Q2: Was OpenAI taken over by AGI?
12:04 Q3: Will this affect AGI timelines?
12:30 Q4: Did OpenAI blow their lead? (Blackberry)
13:28 Q5: Was Sam Altman splitting his attention?
14:00 Q6: Was this orchestrated by Microsoft?
14:58 Q7: Is this type of drama uncommon?
15:42 Q8: Can a company survive losing its founder?
16:17 Conclusion
17:05 Character references
17:40 Outro

[DrWaku]

Publishing this video a day early because it's related to news. It takes me a while to produce videos so it's already out of date, of course. We now know more about why the board fired Sam (look up the Q* algorithm). I'll probably make another video about that.

Do you find it useful to get a thorough summary of news even when it's a bit out of date?

[demultiplexdfunc]

Love your video style - straight to the point, clear, concise and no needless chit chat.

[K.F-R]

I appreciate and enjoy your clear takes. This is a quality channel. I hope it continues to grow in the way that you deserve. Pretty sure it will. 8)

[ryanoconnor]

Fantastic Work! Ive listened to so many podcasts-reports etc on this situation yet the amount of information and the quality of your delivery puts you at the top. Please do more work!! Really enjoyed this!!!

[victordelmastro]

IMO: Go fever is gripping the AGI space. They need a reset.

[mikeluna]

Subbed.. pithy in a world of rewarding verbosity

[mvn]

You are amazing and I loved your review and insight. I definitely subscribed. Thanks.

[williamal]

Thanks Doc, we need people like yourself, David shapiro etc to guide us through this minefield lol

[andrewtaylor]

Concise and succinct as always. Do you have any thoughts on the hypothesis surrounding Altman's public support for Toner's research paper into AI safety and his alleged private attack on the same research paper?

Otherwise agree, and great summation: much ado about nothing.

[callistomoon]

I can‘t hear the term „AI Safety“ anymore 🤦🏻‍♂️

[vjmanuele]

Great concise explanation. I only wish more pet could speak so coherently. 😊

[JohnKuhles]

So in short: ANY kind or form of direct or indirect "Virtue Signaling" done by devotees are punished! ... Nice tactic! ... love it!

[andregustavo]

Waku, I'd really like to know your opinion about Jimmy Apples... Do you think his predictions have a chance of coming true (especially when it comes about AGI)?

[roshni]

Something tells me that this saga isn’t completely over 🤷🏽‍♀️ Maybe some end credit scenes are to be watched for still

[dougg]

Sounds like this Q was achieved for a while before the board knew about it. And they found out through the company grapevine.

[getthecats]

"effective altruist means that she cares about AI safety?" one part of the statement doesn't infer the other. EA is a silicon valley brand/virtue-signal and isn't specific to AI or AI ssfety at all. Altruism believes in NET GOOD OVER THE LONG TERM. So in the scheme of things, an altruist would be happy with short term doom.

[raduromanesti]

too late , every one has already forgot and moved on

[BrightMatolo]

•\\• I believe we are meant to be like Jesus in our hearts and not in our flesh. But be careful of AI, for it is just our flesh and that is it. It knows only things of the flesh (our fleshly desires) and cannot comprehend things of the spirit such as peace of heart (which comes from obeying God's Word). Whereas we are a spirit and we have a soul but live in the body (in the flesh). When you go to bed it is your flesh that sleeps but your spirit never sleeps (otherwise you have died physically) that is why you have dreams. More so, true love that endures and last is a thing of the heart (when I say 'heart', I mean 'spirit'). But fake love, pretentious love, love with expectations, love for classic reasons, love for material reasons and love for selfish reasons that is a thing of our flesh. In the beginning God said let us make man in our own image, according to our likeness. Take note, God is Spirit and God is Love. As Love He is the source of it. We also know that God is Omnipotent, for He creates out of nothing and He has no beginning and has no end. That means, our love is but a shadow of God's Love. True love looks around to see who is in need of your help, your smile, your possessions, your money, your strength, your quality time. Love forgives and forgets. Love wants for others what it wants for itself. Take note, true love works in conjunction with other spiritual forces such as patience and faith (in the finished work of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, rather than in what man has done such as science, technology and organizations which won't last forever). To avoid sin and error which leads to the death of our body and also our spirit in hell fire, we should let the Word of God be the standard of our lives not AI. If not, God will let us face AI on our own and it will cast the truth down to the ground, it will be the cause of so much destruction like never seen before, it will deceive many and take many captive in order to enslave them into worshipping it and abiding in lawlessness. We can only destroy ourselves but with God all things are possible. God knows us better because He is our Creater and He knows our beginning and our end. Our prove text is taken from the book of John 5:31-44, 2 Thessalonians 2:1-12, Daniel 7-9, Revelation 13-15, Matthew 24-25 and Luke 21. Let us watch and pray... God bless you as you share this message to others.