[lawxls]

While the unfolding situation at OpenAI is certainly complex, one can't help but question the role of D'Angelo in this scenario. Given his entanglement in AI development and his recent ventures that place him in direct competition with OpenAI, his continued presence on the board raises legitimate concerns. The essence of board membership, especially in a field as intricate and rapidly evolving as AI, should be rooted in unconflicted support and clear alignment with the organization's goals. If the circulating rumors hold any weight—those hinting at his involvement in the CEO's abrupt dismissal—then it only compounds the argument for a reconsideration of his board role. Entrepreneurship, while often a game of strategic moves, must also adhere to a code of ethics. If these stories of past betrayals among peers are more than just whispers, it does raise questions about the integrity of leadership and decision-making within such influential tech circles. In the interest of transparency and maintaining trust within the tech community, perhaps it's time for D'Angelo to reevaluate his position and possibly step down, ensuring OpenAI can navigate its path without potential conflicts.

[frabjoused]

I have trouble finding respect for Adam knowing he permitted Quora to gradually transform from something promising to trashing it’s quality for financial sellout to the point that it can no longer be taken seriously. I don’t understand how someone can let that happen.

[kfarr]

Yeah I was thinking last night after hearing his involvement in this, does anyone else realize that Quora is basically unusable now? I mean it started from such a noble cause to answer all of humanity's questions to literally tricking end-users into clicking ads...

[simonw]

I always assumed Quora was a classic example of a company that raised too much money.

They had a fantastic, high quality service up to around 2015 - but they raised at least $226m at a (one point) $1.8bn valuation by 2017: https://techcrunch.com/2017/04/21/uniquorn/

Justifying that valuation requires a metric ton of growth hacking that appears to be incompatible with maintaining a high level of quality on a Q&A site.

[philomath_mn]

Quora is my biggest internet disappointment by far. I used to spend a lot of time there between 2013-2017. It wasn't perfect but there were great questions, great authors to follow, and the feed consistently served me quality content.

Then they flipped the switch on the new algorithms / monetization strategies and it all turned to shit. All of the thoughtful writers were replaced by whoever could churn out the most sensational (and usually blatantly false) answers. Whenever Google leads me there now I am physically pained by the awful user experience and absolute drivel in the top answers.

So yeah, not impressed at all with D'Angelo

[awongh]

A classic case of enshittification. Quora is the new Yahoo Answers.

The funny thing is that there will be a new one soon probably.

Or is it the AI app he’s already building?

[leobg]

Wasn’t this the game?

Cheat people into generating top quality content for you. Once you have enough, put all of it behind a paywall. And use all that content as your chips in the new AI game.

[letmevoteplease]

Also interesting that D’Angelo was the one who was negotiating with OpenAI leadership as representative of the board,[1] and the employee protest letter states that the board "informed the leadership team that allowing the company to be destroyed would be consistent with the mission" during these negotiations.[2]

[1] https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2023-11-20/openai-s-...

[2] https://www.wired.com/story/openai-staff-walk-protest-sam-al...

[layer8]

Note that "allowing the company to be destroyed" is outside of the literal quote (which is just "consistent with the mission"), so "destroyed" may be an appraisal by the leadership that the board doesn't share.

[ignoramous]

Some speculate that Helen and Adam were on the verge of being forced out by Sam, the former in the lieu of new investors needing a board seat for their person and the latter due to conflict of interest (via Poe after GPT Store launched on Devday). Once Ilya bought into their concerns, Adam and Helen, without informing any stakeholder (incl Microsoft), moved swiftly and decisively before any director changed their mind (like Ilya eventually did).

https://twitter.com/alexandrosM/status/1727026942560330172 / https://archive.is/l89JO

[adventured]

If you're an investor in OpenAI's for-profit unit, the very clear lawsuit target is D'Angelo. His extreme conflict of interest problem is a personal bankruptcy waiting to happen given the value destruction OpenAI has just (probably) suffered. Investors should be promptly slapping a multi billion dollar lawsuit down on the table: resign or else.

Then stop messing around and fully split off the for-profit unit, run by Altman. They're in perpetual conflict. The non-profit can use its ownership stake (liquidate it gradually) for funding for a very long time and can still pursue its mission of safe AGI. It should provide tens of billions of dollars in funding for the non-profit. The for-profit can then be unleashed to fully pursue commercialization related to GPT without hold-backs.

The absurd fantasy of the dual OpenAI missions co-existing in peace needs to die. They can't co-exist peacefully within one body, everything about their requirements to thrive going forward puts them at odds with each other (from speed, to compensation, to funding requirements, to management approach).

[robg]

This seems the simplest explanation, and relevant to the post, cause for a lawsuit. Helen could be principled about the mission, but difficult to say Adam was, given what he stood to gain.

[eh_why_not]

Given that this debacle turned out to be NOT about AI safety (as Emmet Shear confirmed), the whole "slowing down" angle becomes about interests.

Who else had the commercial/totally-for-profit interest in slowing OpenAI down, and was in a position to do something about it?

It is hard to see what unfolded as anything but active sabotage.

[jacquesm]

Indeed, this is most puzzling and it is now a 33% chance that he's the one that started all this. If it turns out that is true the chances of a successful suit go up considerably.

[tomp]

Who cares who started this? All four are equally responsible. You can’t vote then say it wasn’t your fault (unless you were literally coerced).

[dr_dshiv]

I know it’s nuts, but is there any chance this was orchestrated to some degree? If someone wanted to throw off the non profit structure, they couldn’t have done a better job than this. I mean, it really works out well for Microsoft.

[CamperBob2]

You forgot the "It's important to keep in mind" part.

[gunapologist99]

Perhaps ironic? Your wording sounds exactly like is was written by ChatGPT (especially the last sentence)!

[silisili]

First thing I thought of, but I didn't want to be the first one to throw out accusations. That comment has the same unnatural writing patterns that ChatGPT uses. Something about the style makes me feel uneasy when reading it.

[lawxls]

:)

[vkou]

Did Sam Altman have any conflicts of interest, between OpenAI's charter and his other investments?

[cbsmith]

The answer to that one is of indeed YES.

It would appear that there are different rules when profit is involved, which ironically is exactly what OpenAI's nonprofit parent was intended to prevent.

[jacquesm]

Absolutely, but that seems to have been a prerequisite for joining the board of OpenAI.

[spamizbad]

Yes but that's most boards these days, at least by the standards of a layperson.

[AmericanOP]

D'Angelo is mad he weaponized web design against Quora users for years because he would go bankrupt otherwise, and now he is going bankrupt anyway. Adam is at war with god, not OpenAI.

[stcredzero]

Adam is at war with god, not OpenAI.

Where does the phrase, "is at war with God," denoting opposition to fundamental laws of reality, come from?

[m3kw9]

So OpenAI has no conflict of interest clause?

[lawxls]

For those keen on following this situation as it evolves, consider subscribing to keywords 'OpenAI' and 'Sam Altman' via my Telegram HackerNews alerts bot to receive related stories. The bot is completely free and open-source. My aim here isn't financial gain or power, but rather to offer a useful tool for the community (https://github.com/lawxls/HackerNews-Alerts-Bot).