"If we don't do it, the other guys will first."

Sure, if you could coordinate all human activity on the planet you could prevent further AI research from happening. Assuming you can't coordinate all activity, getting out in front of the problem is probably the best you can hope to do.

To be clear, I'm agnostic of the guy's motive -- I'm just genuinely puzzled how, if you spent most of your waking hours supporting AI startups and expanding the tech industry, you could possibly see that as "inevitable" and not something that requires a ton of hard work. Surely if this was all just inexorably happening on its own then everyone at YC would be out of a job?

This reminds me of something Slavoj Žižek often likes to bring up.

> In the Stalinist ideological imaginary, universal reason is objectivised in the guise of the inexorable laws of historical progress, and we are all its servants, the leader included. A Nazi leader, having delivered a speech, stood and silently accepted the applause, but under Stalinism, when the obligatory applause exploded at the end of the leader’s speech, he stood up and joined in.

It's both inevitable AND requires a ton of hard work. But it's not one company or guy that is doing it. There are plenty of other efforts besides Open AI.

It's just one of those processes that are complex but still have a trajectory and are predictable in some regard. Sort of like the Transcontinental Railroad in a way.

I think it's a case of "if I don't do it, someone else will". And I don't mean that in the (fallacious) sense of "it's ok that I do bad things, because if I don't, someone else will". I think it's reasonable to look at future progress, recognize that certain things are going to happen regardless of whether or not you're involved, and then make the decision to get involved (if you have the resources to do so) in order to shape how it happens.

I sort of agree, but at the same time the way incentives and work function in our society I think it's quite possible that something can both "require a ton of hard work" and be pretty inevitable, barring some huge societal change.

A lot of people would be out of a job if we collectively realized that we don't even need them, so that's not really an argument.

Can we not?

I'm still holding out hope that Sam will come participate on HN one day. I assume you don't know him on a personal level.

I'm judging him by his actions, words, and deeds. Plus the result of them. I don't care about intent. Intent doesn't matter very much, practically speaking.