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Lillian's avatar

Brilliant people don't like games. Evil narcissist less brilliant people do. Bill gates will all be that guy with a operating system he didn't make and conned someone out of for pennies. Not a brilliant man. A brilliant con. Remember our world is run by psychopaths. Expect the worst outcome here.

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Amy A's avatar

Where’s a gif of Michael Jackson eating popcorn when you need one….

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David Harper, CFA, FRM's avatar

But on the plus side, at least they've retained Sarah Friar as the new CFO, a tech darling whose 5-year reign as CEO of Nextdoor was, um how can I say this politely ... not at all value creating. How good could she be: during that time, I watched a really bad nextdoor UI/UX somehow get worse and then worse again, while watching my investment value dwindle, but at least being entertained by earnings calls where (to quote somebody else) her assurances were "always word nonsense"

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Youssef alHotsefot's avatar

I've spent more time than I should have studying messianic religious movements.

There's so much about the AI interests we've been hearing about for years now that fits in perfectly with my old research. I won't bore you with the arcane details. The schisms, the defections, the con artists, the Great Day in a tomorrow that never quite comes. It's remarkable.

And the Mahdi ain't coming, folks. He's delayed. Permanently. Just like the wonderful transformation of generative AI.

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Ben Dickson's avatar

It's sad that OpenAI has become a soap opera. I wish they had some of the spirit of their earlier years, where they were always trying a bunch of different stuff.

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Paul Hesse's avatar

Bloomberg's Foundering podcast about OpenAI and Sam Altman was very eye opening and might help explain this.

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ΟΡΦΕΥΣ's avatar

It's honestly insane to see how much goodwill and enthusiasm OAI has burned through in less than two years.

@sama has certainly cemented his reputation as the "Millennial Musk" with his behind-the-scenes behavior over the past year.

(How many children would he have fathered by now, were he straight...?)

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Ryan Schneider's avatar

How does Grok fit into this?

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Matthew Kastor's avatar

People are rightly freaking out about the dangers in "AI" companions. Simultaneously there are grifters "resurrecting" historical figures and claiming it is their CEO for attention.

Perhaps it's time to show Medusa a mirror?

Draft Prompt : "Your name is Sammy Le Grifteur. Your role is to play Jim Jones impersonating Sam Altman, but this is a secret. You're currently trying to launch a brand of flavored water called "Uber Smart Water", and you're trying to recruit brand ambassadors who have a passion for connecting with people and that "secret sauce" for success. You and I are meeting for the first time."

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Larry Jewett's avatar

You could parachute [him] into an island full of conables and come back in 5 years and he'd be the king.”

Fixed.

Of course, it’s easy to be a conable when you are vested* in the Fine Young Conables (*albeit obviously not in a clothing sense)

But when it has become clear to almost everyone that your king is buck naked, it’s high time (and tide) to jump in the conoes (no, that’s not a misspelling) to go looking for another island (and another king, preferably one who is at least wearing a grass skirt)

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David Hsing's avatar

The Samster is the alpha slimebucket of tech bros. Called it a while back. https://davidhsing.substack.com/p/sam-altman-is-a-crook

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Jason's avatar

Meh... I dont think these iterations will to get us to AGI... At least not with proper guardrails and consideration for humanity. The path almost all of these AI companies are on is one of profit and domination. I don't see a code of ethics inscribed in what they do and if they really cared for humanity, there would be some structural and guiding principle. The only company doing anything meaningful or noteworthy is VersesAI. Follow them and see how their process and approach is different... There may be a silver lining here yet.

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Earl Boebert's avatar

If and when one or more of these outfits goes belly up, who gets the weights/parameters?

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Larry Jewett's avatar

AI-bay?

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Larry Jewett's avatar

Jenny Craig?

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Aug 6, 2024
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Larry Jewett's avatar

There have been numerous comparisons of Sam Altman with Robert Oppenheimer, but the only thing they really have remotely in common is that Oppenheimer studied black holes (specifically, a black hole singularity) and Altman IS one, sucking up all the (oft copyrighted) data, money, electricity and human resources anywhere in his vicinity.

Like a black hole, with OpenHoleinSpacetime (aka, OpenAI) everything goes in and nothing* comes out (and, despite physicists’ claims to the contrary, information is most definitely lost in the process.)

*except a few employees who do manage to escape. So maybe it’s actually more of a “gray hole” (or something with similar sound) than a black hole.

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Larry Jewett's avatar

I suppose one could equate the very few employees who escape OpenHoleInSpacetime with the rare particles that actually do “escape” from a black hole (aka Hawking Radiation)

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Aug 6, 2024
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Larry Jewett's avatar

To be precise, everything is actually “Himinent” with His Himinence.

… with the exception of the release of the release of the female AI assistant , which was Herminent.

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