Here's what I discovered about OpenAI's unusual nonprofit structure, which wields outsized decision-making power over the for-profit side of the company
Great read. I find it intriguing that Adam (a board member of a nonprofit company) leverages OpenAI APIs in the AI chatbot of Quora (a for-profit company)
The article illustrates one huge problem with not for profit entities, be they charities, hospitals, universities, or like here an LLC running a for profit entity. Who guards the guardians? The board answers to no one. There are no owners to vote them out, typically. So they can run the highly profitable alleged not for profit entity any way they want, constrained only by their conscience. And to be clear, those running not for profits are as self interested as anyone else. They may not care as much about making huge rather than large sakaries. But they might love the adulation more than others.
Sharon delighted to discover your Substack. This thing is blowing so many lids open, on so many levels (and how ironic it's a little over a year after FTX, guess it must be the season for corporate bombshells).
I'm struck by your line here: “…the six members of its nonprofit board of directors will determine when the company has 'attained AGI'.” The word they use, “attained”, carries a hint of the digital nirvana some have been attributing to AGI. Perhaps when all the heady incense dissipates, we'll be able to see more clearly what motivating factors are driving this drama.
In the meantime, we have plenty of Silicon Valley soap opera to follow this holiday. As always, corporate politics does not fail to disappoint when it comes to palace intrigue.
And then they wonder where all the bias in AI comes from.
Thank you for giving us a deeper insight regarding these issues. I felt the need to investigate further and you saved me some invaluable time!
Great piece! And what timing, too.
There's some reporting that suggests that Ilya had been demoted himself a month ago, and this was a power play to retaliate:
https://slate.com/technology/2023/11/sam-altman-fired-openai-mira-murati.html
"About a month ago, “Sutskever’s responsibilities at the company were reduced,” thanks to an oppositional alliance between Altman and Brockman."
The AI safety nonsense might just be cover for standard backstabbing and politics.
Thank you, Ben! Wow...I didn't see that. So interesting!
I also agree it seems like politics are most likely, with a weird board structure to enable it.
that makes sense...the politics + board enablement
Yikes.
sunday Open AI scorecard so far is now:
-4 Human General intelligence vs. 0 Artificial General intelligence
Great read. I find it intriguing that Adam (a board member of a nonprofit company) leverages OpenAI APIs in the AI chatbot of Quora (a for-profit company)
The article illustrates one huge problem with not for profit entities, be they charities, hospitals, universities, or like here an LLC running a for profit entity. Who guards the guardians? The board answers to no one. There are no owners to vote them out, typically. So they can run the highly profitable alleged not for profit entity any way they want, constrained only by their conscience. And to be clear, those running not for profits are as self interested as anyone else. They may not care as much about making huge rather than large sakaries. But they might love the adulation more than others.
Thank you for sharing your research.
Thanks for reading! :)
So interesting- thank you for a great article!
Thank you for reading! :)
Sharon delighted to discover your Substack. This thing is blowing so many lids open, on so many levels (and how ironic it's a little over a year after FTX, guess it must be the season for corporate bombshells).
I'm struck by your line here: “…the six members of its nonprofit board of directors will determine when the company has 'attained AGI'.” The word they use, “attained”, carries a hint of the digital nirvana some have been attributing to AGI. Perhaps when all the heady incense dissipates, we'll be able to see more clearly what motivating factors are driving this drama.
In the meantime, we have plenty of Silicon Valley soap opera to follow this holiday. As always, corporate politics does not fail to disappoint when it comes to palace intrigue.
And then they wonder where all the bias in AI comes from.