And the most important company in human history? The hell is that guy smoking, because I've got good shit and that's some serious hyperbole.
Is the hype machine in the room with us right now?
But then, considering the reputation of young Bill and the one Sam seems to be acquiring, maybe the "powered" traits that apparently set him apart from other YC candidates weren't so positive after all...
Maybe Git...? I thought that was pretty cool back in 2006.
I think they both believe they are good and doing good.
People tend to be more suspicious of Mark Zuckerberg's motives than Sam Altman's.
Sam Altman himself even said he can't be trusted but that was ok because of the company structure and then, when he needed to, overpowered that structure he claimed was necessary: https://x.com/tobyordoxford/status/1727624526450581571?s=20
I really think the opposite. I think he's after the biggest payday/most power he can get, and anything else is a secondary consideration.
I can't distinguish between a thirst for money and a thirst for power because above a certain level, they're essentially the same thing.
“I get like all of the power of running OpenAI” “I don’t think it’s particularly altruistic. Like it would be if I didn’t already have a bunch of money. The money is gonna pile up faster than I can spend it anyway.”
Those I think are either from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3sWH2e5xpdo or https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_hpuPi7YZX8
"I mean I have like lots of selfish reasons for doing this and as you've said I get like all the power of running OpenAI, but I can't think of anything more fulfilling to work on and I don't think it's particularly altruistic, it would be if I didn't already have a bunch of money, yeah, the money is gonna pile up faster than I can spend it"
Some other fascinating and relevant stuff in that video too.
He's also said something similar in another interview:
“One of the takeaways I’ve learned is that this concept of having enough money is not an idea that’s easy to get across to people. I have enough money. What I want more of is, like, an interesting life, impact; access to be in the conversation. So I still get a lot of selfish benefit from this. What else am I going to do with my time? This is really great. I cannot imagine a more interesting life than this one and a more interesting thing to work on.”
I certainly didn't interpret as him disagreeing with his statement "I mean I have like lots of selfish reasons for doing this"
It's the "as you've said" part of "as you've said I get like all the power of running OpenAI" that would make me inclined to think what you wrote here.
But I do think there's a greater chance that he is saying that he does like the power.
There's also another quote either in this video or the other one I shared I think where he's asked why he's doing this, or what motivates him, or something like that, and he responds with something like "I'd be lying if I didn't say I really like the power"
Not even the weird shitcoin with the eye scanner he's been pushing (WorldCoin)?
Based on the last 5 years of crypto hype and failures across the industry, the only motivating factor to get involved in it seems to be 'increase their personal net worth'.
holy shit, hype is unreal :D
Psychopathy is a personality disorder indicated by a pattern of lying, cunning, manipulating, glibness, exploiting, heedlessness, arrogance, delusions of grandeur, sexual promiscuity, low self-control, disregard for morality, lack of acceptance of responsibility, callousness, and lack of empathy and remorse.
(Which, now I read it, is disappointingly pattern matching the billionaire who invested in both OpenAI and also a BCI startup currently looking for human test subjects).
I can see arguments for either saying Altman has delusions of grandeur or lack of acceptance of responsibility depending on if you believe OpenAI is going too fast or if it's slowing things down unnecessarily, but they can't both be true at the same time.
However, there seems to be a decent amount of evidence that Sam has done exactly what you're talking about.
He manipulated and was "not consistently candid" with the board, he got all the OpenAI employees to support him in his power struggles, he made them afraid to stand up to him (https://x.com/tobyordoxford/status/1727631406178672993?s=20), he exhibited delusions (though I guess they were correct) of grandeur with pg with a glint in his eye making clear to pg that he wanted to take over yc, he did little things like made it seem that he was cool with Eliezer Yudkowsky with a photo op but didn't really chat with him, etc.
Again, I am not sure this perspective is necessarily right (and I may be convinced just because he's such an effective psychopath).
In any case, I think this is a pretty good explanation of this perspective: https://x.com/erikphoel/status/1731703696197599537?s=20
Elon Musk actually matches several of those poorly, and matches bipolar disorder much better (most of those are also bipolar or billionaire symptoms, while psychopathy is inconsistent with many Musk symptoms like catatonia): https://gwern.net/note/musk
(Since my original comment, I've remembered that even professionals in this field don't remote-diagnose people like I kinda did).
I do think he legitimately believes he's doing the right thing though all throughout, which maybe makes it more scary.
Sorta like how Mark Zuckerberg seemed to truly believe in Facebook's mission and wound up having all sorts of negative externalities for the world. Mark Zuckerberg just isn't quite as effective as Sam Altman, and it's easier to be suspicious of his motives.
Not to say that psychopaths are necessarily bad. Peter in Ender's Shadow turned out great!
But it does seem dangerous for 1 person to hold so much power over the future of humanity.
Sam Altman's reasoning for him having all the power, I think, is that “short timelines and slow takeoff is likely the safest quadrant of the short/long timelines and slow/fast takeoff matrix.”
If you believe that and believe that Sam Altman having complete control of OpenAI is the best way to accomplish that, everything seems fine.
I'd personally have preferred trying to optimize for long timelines and a slow takeoff too, which I think might have been doable if we'd devoted more resources to neglected approaches to AI alignment–like enhancing human capabilities with BCI and other stuff like that.