Putting aside the fact that OpenAI drama seems to always happen in a world-is-watching fishbowl, this feels very much like the pedestrian trope of genius CTO getting sidelined as the product succeeds and business people pushing business interests take control. On his own, Ilya can raise money for anything he wants, hire anyone he wants, and basically just have way more freedom than he does at OpenAI.
I do think there is a basic p/doom vs e/acc divide which has probably been there all along, but as the tech keeps accelerating it becomes more and more of a sticking point.
I suspect in the depths of their souls, SA and Brock and the rest of that crowd do not really take the idea of existential threat to humanity seriously. Giving Ilya a “Safety and alignment” role probably now looks like a sop to A) shut the p-doomers up and B) signal some level of concern. But when push comes to shove, SA and team do what they know how to do—push product out the door. Move fast and risk extinction.
One CEO I worked with summed up his attitude thusly: “Ready… FIRE! - aim.”
Putting aside the fact that OpenAI drama seems to always happen in a world-is-watching fishbowl, this feels very much like the pedestrian trope of genius CTO getting sidelined as the product succeeds and business people pushing business interests take control. On his own, Ilya can raise money for anything he wants, hire anyone he wants, and basically just have way more freedom than he does at OpenAI.
I do think there is a basic p/doom vs e/acc divide which has probably been there all along, but as the tech keeps accelerating it becomes more and more of a sticking point.
I suspect in the depths of their souls, SA and Brock and the rest of that crowd do not really take the idea of existential threat to humanity seriously. Giving Ilya a “Safety and alignment” role probably now looks like a sop to A) shut the p-doomers up and B) signal some level of concern. But when push comes to shove, SA and team do what they know how to do—push product out the door. Move fast and risk extinction.
One CEO I worked with summed up his attitude thusly: “Ready… FIRE! - aim.”