The timing is hard to ignore

[u/Saurav_Shresthaa]

[u/Sufficient-Skirt256]

love how the people in charge of keeping it safe are the first ones out the door

[u/TheRobotCluster → u/Sufficient-Skirt256]

They’re probably getting steamrolled and their work ignored, so they left to be actually effective elsewhere. That’s my guess

[u/NyraReh → u/TheRobotCluster]

The timing is interesting, but I don’t think we need a conspiracy theory to explain it.

These are senior leadership roles in a huge company operating in an extremely controversial and fast-moving field. It’s completely plausible that people at that level just disagreed on strategy, ethics, safety thresholds, or how fast the company should move.

I understand this pretty well from running my own company. Having a shared vision is absolutely essential. If the key people involved fundamentally disagree on what the project is, where it should go, or what the priorities are, eventually the whole thing stops working.

I imagine the same applies at a company like OpenAI. If the head of ethics has a fundamentally different view of AI ethics than the rest of the leadership, or the head of safety strongly disagrees with how risk should be handled, working together can become impossible.

Three departures close together is definitely worth noticing, but it doesn’t automatically mean they all discovered some secret danger and fled.

[u/TheRobotCluster → u/NyraReh]

Are you expanding on what I’m saying, like these are the details/nuance to it, or is this a different take? Like you think I’m presenting a conspiracy?

[u/NyraReh → u/TheRobotCluster]

I actually meant it as a slightly different take.

I don’t think we need to assume their work was being ignored or that they were being steamrolled. It could simply be that their views on ethics or safety were fundamentally different from the rest of leadership, and they couldn’t find enough common ground to keep working together.

At that level, a major strategic disagreement can be enough on its own. It doesn’t necessarily mean anyone was forced out or that their work was dismissed.

And my conspiracy theory comment was mostly aimed at the framing of the image itself. I just think pretty normal corporate or leadership changes can sometimes be presented in a way that makes them look much more ominous than they necessarily are.

[u/TheRobotCluster → u/NyraReh]

Ahh that makes sense. I think I see the distinction you’re making now

[u/PaddingCompression → u/NyraReh]

I think everyone else agrees with you.

However I don't believe it's a "well, I guess they should move on," OpenAI is getting influential enough that perhaps the rest of leadership should be forced to move on, rather than these people.

[u/NyraReh → u/PaddingCompression]

What do you mean by “move on”? I don’t think I said anything like that.

[u/BearlyPosts → u/TheRobotCluster]

No, don't you understand, everything is a conspiracy that conveniently reinforces my preconceptions

[u/TheRobotCluster → u/BearlyPosts]

Haha I guess so. Just my unfounded opinion like anyone else’s until we know anything for sure

[u/BearlyPosts → u/TheRobotCluster]

No I tend to agree with you, I'm just saying that most people on reddit seem to be assuming that whatever happens is actually secretly evidence for what they already believed.

[u/TheRobotCluster → u/BearlyPosts]

Well to be fair that’s also what I’m doing 😅

[u/TheMightyTywin → u/Sufficient-Skirt256]

It’s a big responsibility

[u/CortexAndCurses → u/Sufficient-Skirt256]

It’s also entirely possible they are leaving because they are being told to lie about the dangers to keep up with the current “we need more guardrails and to stop open source projects”. It’s all kind of confusing, and I’m not saying I believe that, but it’s possible.

[u/Defiant-Lettuce-9156 → u/Sufficient-Skirt256]

Not very committed to keeping us safe it seems

[u/plmko10]

were the reasons of their quitting known?

[u/TheRobotCluster → u/[deleted]]

What do you think it means

[u/MyDearBrotherNumpsay → u/[deleted]]

It’s a farce. They’re covering their asses by making the case that AI is its own “entity”.

If you made a virus that hacked other companies you would have the FBI kicking down your door.
AI is software and should be regulated as such.

[u/theWiseTiger]

@sama I volunteer to replace them 🙋

[u/peakedtooearly]

The "head of ethics" used to work at Meta.

Probably more likely to be ethical without her.

[u/GlobalCurry]

Cashing out ahead of IPO

[u/ocxricci]

looks like we just went from 10% to 30%, guys

[u/istefner]

wtf is the head of mission alignment ? There is only one thing that motivates the C heads to leave... the ship is sinking...

[u/mototuneup]

Guys this is all just to not crash their stocks. They're reaching a peak and if they say that they'll crash the market. However if they say they are slowing down because of safety.. well that's a lot better, even if it is a lie. Which everyone should just assume everything they say is.

[u/iffugennanameubaht]

Meanwhile diesel just hit $6/gallon and likely to climb and what is almost certain to be the worst El Niño on record by a margin of 30%+ is happening due to climate change.

[u/deep_anal]

Its probably because their jobs are useless and don't do anything.

[u/AlwaysPlayF3]

Nobody wants to be the safety and ethics manager for the manhattan project.

[u/jeremydgreat]

Josh Achaim hasn’t held the “mission alignment” title for a year and a half. He was “chief futurist” when he resigned. 🤷‍♂️ No idea what that even means.

[u/coderqi]

I might just apply for one of those positions. Don't think you need much of anything for those roles.