If OpenAI and Sam Altman want to fix this situation, it is clear what must be done as the first step. The release of claims must be replaced, including retroactively, by a standard release of claims. Daniel’s vested equity must be returned to him, in exchange for that standard release of claims. All employees of OpenAI, both current employees and past employees, must be given unconditional release from their non-disparagement agreements, all NDAs modified to at least allow acknowledging the NDAs, and all must be promised in writing the unconditional ability to participate as sellers in all future tender offers.
Then the hard work can begin to rebuild trust and culture, and to get the work on track.
Alright—suppose they don’t. What then?
I don’t think I misstep in positing that we (for however you want to construe “we”) should model OAI as—jointly but independently—meriting zero trust and functioning primarily to make Sam Altman personally more powerful. I’m also pretty sure that asking Sam to pretty please be nice and do the right thing is… perhaps strategically counterindicated.
Suppose you, Zvi (or anyone else reading this! yes, you!) were Unquestioned Czar of the Greater Ratsphere, with a good deal of money, compute, and soft power, but basically zero hard power. Sam Altman has rejected your ultimatum to Do The Right Thing and cancel the nondisparagements, modify the NDAs, not try to sneakily fuck over ex-employees when they go to sell and are made to sell for a dollar per PPU, etc, etc.
Go all-in on lobbying the US and other governments to fully prohibit the training of frontier models beyond a certain level, in a way that OpenAI can’t route around (so probably block Altman’s foreign chip factory initiative, for instance).
Make Sam Altman look stupid on Twitter, which will marginally persuade more employees to quit and more potential investors not to invest (this is my worst idea but also the easiest, and people seem to pretty much have this one covered already)
Pay a fund to hire a good lawyer to figure out a strategy to nullify the non-disparagement agreements. Maybe a class-action lawsuit, maybe a lawsuit on the behalf of one individual, maybe try to charge Altman with some sort of crime, I’m not sure the best way to do this but that’s the lawyer’s job to figure out.
Have everyone call their representative in support of SB 1047, or maybe even say you want SB 1047 to have stronger whistleblower protections or something similar.
I am limited in my means, but I would commit to a fund for strategy 2. My thoughts were on strategy 2, and it seems likely to do the most damage to OpenAI’s reputation (and therefore funding) out of the above options. If someone is really protective of something, like their public image/reputation, that probably indicates that it is the most painful place to hit them.
Alright—suppose they don’t. What then?
I don’t think I misstep in positing that we (for however you want to construe “we”) should model OAI as—jointly but independently—meriting zero trust and functioning primarily to make Sam Altman personally more powerful. I’m also pretty sure that asking Sam to pretty please be nice and do the right thing is… perhaps strategically counterindicated.
Suppose you, Zvi (or anyone else reading this! yes, you!) were Unquestioned Czar of the Greater Ratsphere, with a good deal of money, compute, and soft power, but basically zero hard power. Sam Altman has rejected your ultimatum to Do The Right Thing and cancel the nondisparagements, modify the NDAs, not try to sneakily fuck over ex-employees when they go to sell and are made to sell for a dollar per PPU, etc, etc.
What’s the line?
Go all-in on lobbying the US and other governments to fully prohibit the training of frontier models beyond a certain level, in a way that OpenAI can’t route around (so probably block Altman’s foreign chip factory initiative, for instance).
Some ideas:
Make Sam Altman look stupid on Twitter, which will marginally persuade more employees to quit and more potential investors not to invest (this is my worst idea but also the easiest, and people seem to pretty much have this one covered already)
Pay a fund to hire a good lawyer to figure out a strategy to nullify the non-disparagement agreements. Maybe a class-action lawsuit, maybe a lawsuit on the behalf of one individual, maybe try to charge Altman with some sort of crime, I’m not sure the best way to do this but that’s the lawyer’s job to figure out.
Have everyone call their representative in support of SB 1047, or maybe even say you want SB 1047 to have stronger whistleblower protections or something similar.
I am limited in my means, but I would commit to a fund for strategy 2. My thoughts were on strategy 2, and it seems likely to do the most damage to OpenAI’s reputation (and therefore funding) out of the above options. If someone is really protective of something, like their public image/reputation, that probably indicates that it is the most painful place to hit them.