this post was submitted on 20 Nov 2023
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[–] [email protected] 76 points 11 months ago (6 children)

So Microsoft is going to compete with themselves? (Microsoft owns 49% of openai)

[–] [email protected] 53 points 11 months ago

"I play both sides so I always come out ahead"

[–] [email protected] 20 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Sam probably still controls a ton of shares, so I think effectively this would give them >50% of shares as long as they are partnering.

[–] [email protected] 13 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Sam had 0 equity in OpenAI. 0 shares.

[–] [email protected] 9 points 11 months ago (2 children)

Wow really? I've never heard of a CEO not getting options.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Yea the whole setup they have going on is weird.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

That's honestly really sus

[–] [email protected] 18 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Back both horses and drop the one that loses the race.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

The thing is that there many many horses in this race

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Having two entrants is still better than one.

[–] [email protected] -2 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago) (2 children)

Not really if you have to divide resources between two. Computing necessary for training these models is not cheap and there is an obvious opportunity cost here.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

MS has more than enough cash and resources to back two horses.

Computing necessary for training this models is not cheap and there is an obvious opportunity cost here.

This also gives them the luxury of trying a different approach.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago

Time will tell my guess is that Microsoft will sale its stake in openai or just drain openai from resources and people until it will disappear.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

I have no idea what MS is doing with AI internally, but predictive text is only one of the avenues towards AGI which sure seems to be the direction OpenAI (and everyone else currently looking to sell a product) are going. There are certainly other directions MS can go in the same field without putting all their eggs in one basket.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 11 months ago (3 children)

Watch them flat out buy OpenAI then just reinstate these guys.

[–] [email protected] 12 points 11 months ago

If OpenAI wanted to sell out, they wouldn't have fired Altman

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

They’re only 2% short of being able to do that. I think Microsoft has a 49% stake.

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Sam has to own at least a percent or two. Even if he doesn't bring enough shares to the table to give Microsoft the edge they need, I'm guessing he's friendly enough with a few shareholders to get them the rest of the way.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I think Sam famously has had a 0% stake

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago

Huh, that's interesting. But I still assume he must have a good enough relationship with enough investors to convince at least 2% of shareholders to back Microsoft if they were partnering with him on a resolution.

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago

As much as I'd love to see them back in OpenAI, I don't think Emmett Shear will give up.

I have a soft spot for Greg since he was the one who introduced the world to GPT 4 on that developer livestream

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago

Same jacket, different pocket

[–] [email protected] 5 points 11 months ago (2 children)

@silencioso competing with themselves isn't that weird, for example Pfizer makes both Viagra and its generic competitor Avigra.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago (1 children)

Just like cereal companies with name brands like fruit loops will make fruit spins. Why not take profit on the lower end of the market?

[–] [email protected] 4 points 11 months ago (1 children)

And there are many other examples too.

A lot of car manufacturers have brands for the upper class. Like Mercedes -> Maybach, Toyota -> Lexus, Seat -> Cupra. And tyre manufacturers have lower-end brands, like Michelin -> Kleber. Or, even better: a lot of store budget brands for milk, cheese, sausages etc. are manufactured by a big name brand, it's right on the packaging with the little letters at the bottom. (Manufactured by: XYZ Big Name Brand Ltd.)

[–] [email protected] 2 points 11 months ago (1 children)

I had a teacher in high school, many decades ago, who had owned an orange juice processor. He explained that the generic store brand got the start and end of production runs; name brand got the middle.

[–] [email protected] 1 points 11 months ago* (last edited 11 months ago)

Orange juice in particular is a very brand loyalty specific one because oranges naturally do not have a consistent flavor. The main distinguishing flavor between different brands is an additive each brand puts in to make it taste more like their brand of orange juice.

[–] [email protected] 7 points 11 months ago

That's got to be the lowest effort generic name in existence. "Ah just shift one of the letters to the start and let's knock off early"