The Case Against Sam Altman

When Adam Neumann lost his job running WeWork, the startup then valued at nearly $50 billion, there were two sins that always struck me as particularly grievous. The first was that he was having WeWork lease out buildings that he owned (e.g., he was profiting from the supply) and the second was that he sold the trademark for “We” to WeWork for $5.9 million (a bit of a stretch, but it could be characterized as him profiting off the platform).

When Sam Altman lost his job running OpenAI, the startup valued at over $50 billion, there were many sins that struck me as particularly grievous. The first was that he was looking to raise billions to start his own chip company that could sell to OpenAI (e.g., profiting from the supply), and the second was that he was separately raising billions to build a hardware device that OpenAI models would be housed on (e.g., profiting off the platform). To further muddy the waters, OpenAI’s main partner, Microsoft, buys power from a company in which Altman is a major shareholder. OpenAI’s in-house VC fund has led a Series A round in a company in which Altman is also a major shareholder. Altman owns shares in some of the buzziest tech companies in the world, including Stripe, Instacart, and Humane. Many, if not all, of those companies are using the tech that OpenAI is selling.

Συνέχεια  εδώ