this post was submitted on 06 Mar 2024
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Follow up to https://awful.systems/post/1109610 (which I need to go read now because I completely overlooked this)

Now OpenAI has responded to Elon Musk's lawsuit with an email dump containing a bunch of weird nerd startup funding drama: https://openai.com/blog/openai-elon-musk

Choice quote from OpenAI:

As we get closer to building AI, it will make sense to start being less open. The Open in openAI means that everyone should benefit from the fruits of AI after its built, but it's totally OK to not share the science (even though sharing everything is definitely the right strategy in the short and possibly medium term for recruitment purposes).

OpenAI have learned how to redact text properly now though, a pity really.

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[–] self@awful.systems 24 points 8 months ago (3 children)

it’s very funny that OpenAI’s being so public with this, cause there’s a bunch of embarrassing shit in there:

  • several admissions that OpenAI only ever used the veneer of being an open source non-profit as a recruitment, fundraising, and marketing tool — there was never a plan to function as a non-profit once they’d attracted attention
  • “The core algorithms we use today have remained largely unchanged from the ~90s. Not only that, but any algorithmic advances published in a paper somewhere can be almost immediately re-implemented and incorporated. Conversely, algorithmic advances alone are inert without the scale to also make them scary.” aka, there’s no real breakthrough here, the fancy markov chain just looks scarier after you feed it the world’s data
  • musk’s apparent plan was for OpenAI to implement Tesla’s self-driving tech. when they said no he threw a tantrum and decided Tesla could do this AGI thing itself. this one isn’t surprising at all but it’s very funny that musk assumed GPT was the key to making his self-driving shit work
  • the general amount of cult jargon combined with clueless MBA chatter
  • fucking slatestarcodex posts steering top-level decisions at OpenAI
[–] Soyweiser@awful.systems 6 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago)

The core algorithms we use today have remained largely unchanged from the ~90s

Ow boy.

I did laugh when I read somewhere else that Musk wanted to make openAI a part of tesla because google, the guy is just a weird megalomaniac. Just as when he was about to be taken over by apple but wanted the job of apple CEO. Reminds me of cartoon villain stuff where the villain dismisses the ideas of the underlings and then 'comes up' with them himself.

fucking slatestarcodex posts steering top-level decisions at OpenAI

This makes me feel justified in sneering. Jesus christ the horror. The horror.

[–] raktheundead@fedia.io 5 points 8 months ago

I wonder if they're counting on nobody in the mainstream press paying attention or even understanding how that stuff is embarrassing and just going for the zinger.

[–] gerikson@awful.systems 11 points 8 months ago (1 children)

Here's what HN thinks about it: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=39611484

Lots of griping about their current bête noire: "censorship" of output models that obscure the "truths" that LLMs disgorge.

[–] self@awful.systems 11 points 8 months ago

I should extract some quotes when I’ve got time, but that thread is particularly bad even for the orange site. on a quick scroll through I saw the top comment defending musk with some “well technically he’s not wrong, OpenAI broke its promises” shit that utterly ignores musk was pushing for those promises to be broken, a fuckton of fash dogwhistles (and “the AI is disappointing because it’s being censored” definitely is one of them), and a fucking stupid argument about communism for some reason