this post was submitted on 09 Dec 2023
-1 points (0.0% liked)

Technology

59569 readers
4136 users here now

This is a most excellent place for technology news and articles.


Our Rules


  1. Follow the lemmy.world rules.
  2. Only tech related content.
  3. Be excellent to each another!
  4. Mod approved content bots can post up to 10 articles per day.
  5. Threads asking for personal tech support may be deleted.
  6. Politics threads may be removed.
  7. No memes allowed as posts, OK to post as comments.
  8. Only approved bots from the list below, to ask if your bot can be added please contact us.
  9. Check for duplicates before posting, duplicates may be removed

Approved Bots


founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS
 

The senior employees described Altman as psychologically abusive, creating chaos at the artificial-intelligence start-up — complaints that were a major factor in the board’s abrupt decision to fire the CEO

Gift link to article: https://wapo.st/3RyScpS

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] autotldr@lemmings.world 0 points 11 months ago (2 children)

This is the best summary I could come up with:


Initially cast as a clash over the safe development of artificial intelligence, Altman’s firing was at least partially motivated by the sense that his behavior would make it impossible for the board to oversee the CEO.

Altman was reinstated as CEO five days later, after employees released a letter signed by a large percentage of OpenAI’s 800-person staff, including most senior managers, and threatening mass resignations.

Within hours, messages dismissed the board as illegitimate and decried Altman’s firing as a coup by OpenAI co-founder and chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, according to the people.

For longtime employees, there was added incentive to sign: Altman’s departure jeopardized an investment deal that would allow them to sell their stock back to OpenAI, cashing out equity without waiting for the company to go public.

As the company seeks to rebuild the board and smooth things over with Microsoft, its majority shareholder, it has committed to launching an internal investigation into the debacle, which broke into public view on the Friday before Thanksgiving.

“There have been a lot of wild and inaccurate reports about what happened with the Board but the bottom line is that Ilya has very publicly stated that Sam is the right person to lead OpenAI and he is thrilled that he is back at the helm," Sutskever’s lawyer, Alex Weingarten, chair of the litigation practice at Willkie Farr & Gallagher, wrote in a statement.


The original article contains 1,248 words, the summary contains 233 words. Saved 81%. I'm a bot and I'm open source!

[–] oversea@lemmings.world 0 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Your summay said nothing mentioned in the title

[–] ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world -1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Yeah, that's a weird one. I posted the article because of all the questions surrounding Altman's firing, but the article itself is pretty much just a laundry list of one guy's assholery:

  • Altman was psychologically abusive, the employees alleged, creating pockets of chaos and delays at the artificial-intelligence start-up

  • pitted employees against each other in unhealthy ways

  • lied to OpenAI board as part of a campaign to remove a board member

  • key leaders found interacting with Altman highly toxic

  • employees said they feared retaliation from Altman

  • Altman was hostile after an employee shared critical feedback with the CEO and later undermined that employee to their team

  • employees described facing intense peer pressure to sign the mass-resignation letter

  • “People texted each other at 2-2:30 am begging people with write access to type their name” (not directly about Altman, but what kind of ~~cult~~ job requires you to be text-available 24/7?)


Ultimately, "the board’s vote was triggered by a pattern of manipulation and rooted in Altman’s attempts to avoid checks on his power at OpenAI."

That's a better summary, and I bet I saved more words, lol