this post was submitted on 13 Jan 2024
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The Pentagon has its eye on the leading AI company, which this week softened its ban on military use.

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[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

I seriously doubt it had anything to do with his wedding. I don't think the sexuality of a CEO is that big an issue in this day (see: Tim Cook).

Especially considering how Atman's has steered OpenAI vs. the boards' stated mission, it seems much more likely that his temporary ousting had to do with company direction rather than his sexuality.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago (1 children)

And when I hear about a minority being pushed out of a position with no obvious cause I wonder. Homophobia does exist, he announces his gay wedding, gets fired, and no one can come up with a clear reason why. Yeah

[–] [email protected] 2 points 8 months ago* (last edited 8 months ago) (1 children)

I mean, their press release said "not consistently candid", which is about as close to calling someone a liar as corporate speak will get. Altman ended up back in the captain's chair, and we haven't heard anything further.

If the original reason for firing made Altman look bad, we would expect this silence.

If the original reason was a homophobic response from the board, we might expect OpenAI to come out and spin a vague statement on how the former board had a personal gripe with Altman unrelated to his performance as CEO, and that after replacing the board everything is back to the business of delivering value etc. etc.

I'm not saying it isn't possible, but given all we know, I don't think the fact that Altman is gay (now a fairly general digestible fact for public figures) is the reason he was ousted. Especially if you follow journalism about TESCREAL/Silicon Valley philosophies it is clear to see: this was the board trying to preserve the original altruistic mission of OpenAI, and the commercial branch finally shedding the dead weight.

[–] [email protected] -1 points 8 months ago (1 children)

My experience has been all firings are either for clear reasons or vague corporate ones. The vague corporate ones are personal. He announces his gay wedding and suddenly the board decides that a vague reason means he can't work there anymore. Why be vague? Just be direct if you have zero to hide.

They fired him because he is gay and got gay married. Until I see positive evidence against that, like a transcript of the decision signed by eyewitnesses, that will be my working model.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 8 months ago

Fair enough. I disagree, but we're both in the dark here so not much to do about it until more comes to light.