Re:Satya Nadella says OpenAI governance needs to change
by mcmcmc on Monday November 20, 2023 @08:16PM
(#38357475)
I really wish the FTC would get back to busting up this kind of bullshit behavior instead of playing catchup. The cloud giants should be split up, just like AT&T/Bell in the 80s and Standard Oil over 100 years ago. They are bad for business, bad for the free market, and bad for everyone who isn’t getting their pockets lined.
Re:Satya Nadella says OpenAI governance needs to change
by takinola on Monday November 20, 2023 @08:31PM
(#38357620)
The cloud business is remarkably competitive. Prices have been dropping. Innovation and new services are happening. This is exactly the type of market you want to have.
Re:Satya Nadella says OpenAI governance needs to change
by mcmcmc on Monday November 20, 2023 @09:46PM
(#38358346)
The type of market where if you want to launch a new business the best you can hope for is to be acquired or bullied out of the market? Price is not the only indicator of a competitive market, buyers need options. Innovation is not some panacea for socioeconomic ills. It’s the kind of market that tech bros with zero empathy for anyone who isn’t like them have wet dreams about.
Re:Satya Nadella says OpenAI governance needs to change
by takinola on Monday November 20, 2023 @08:30PM
(#38357607)
This problem is not the money. It is the equity. I am certain there is no shortage of investors that would dump cash into OpenAI today despite the events of the last couple of days. It's not even the compute. Amazon would happily move them to AWS tomorrow if they got the chance. The issue is Microsoft's 49% equity stake in the company. What would the new investors get in exchange for their cash/compute? 49.5%?
Because, as Matt Levine pointed out today, there are two ways that you can view OpenAI's corporate governance.
On the one hand, you have the board, which has legal control over the entire company and all of its subsidiaries.
On the other hand, you have Microsoft, who has money.
Under the world view of contracts and corporate governance structures, OpenAI is the company of the board. The board can do whatever they want.
Under the world view of 'people like to eat sometime this month, and OpenAI needs to fundraise', OpenAI is a subservient division of Microsoft. Who can do whatever it wants, up to, and including acquiring all of its IP and staff for essentially $0, with zero regulatory oversight or anti-trust problems.
On paper, you may have property rights to your house. In practice, someone who has property rights around your house can build a wall around it, and wait for you to either sell it to him for a dollar, or starve.
This whole adventure has definitely been a novel (if expensive) take on the 3E's of Microsoft - 'Embrace, Extend, Exterminate'.