I've been seeing some version of "Sam Altman is the antichrist" on every platform in the last few weeks. I'm still trying to find concretely what makes this guy so bad compared to every executive out there. So far, all I could find is:

- OpenAI made a deal with the Pentagon (fair)

- OpenAI changed their business model from non-profit to for-profit (fair?)

- Sexual assault allegations by his sister. Sam Altman denies this and it's currently before a court.

- Overpromised AI to investors (everyone does this)

- Lobbying against regulations (I support)

- Some vague accusations of "being a liar" and a "sociopath" by his competitors Ilya Sutskever and Dario Amodei.

- He doesn't know how to code (lol)

Is there anything that I'm missing? Does he put ketchup on his pizza?

I think it is simpler than that. For a lot of people he's the one who "created the AI"* so he is the reason they have been fired.

That's it, I don't think much of the rest has any weight outside internet forums like this one.

*I've seen people using copilot and calling it "chatgpt".

For me, he's an awful person for the smarminess in the pentagon deal (the DIC is too entwined with American industry to bemoan making any deal at all), the business model change, the behavior described in that recent article, the 180 on how he and OpenAI consider AI ethics, and the way he's gone about overpromising.

It'd be one thing if he was just promising more than he could actually deliver, but he went further, making promises of buying up unrealistically large chunks of the global RAM supply, causing everyone else to suffer, with no remorse.

There's also WorldCoin. I don't think a decent person would continue to push such an awful, untrustworthy system. This is a supposedly privacy-focused project that several countries are investigating for privacy violations and has been found to be in violation of privacy laws in some of them.

It's almost as if he goes out of his way to do as much harm to the world as he thinks he can get away with while maintaining the facade of just doing business. I don't think he's the antichrist, I think Peter Thiel is the closest to deserving that description.

> Lobbying against regulations (I support)

one US mindset I can't wrap my mind around

“Everyone does this,” and iirc recently a few people went to jail for it. So what’s happening with Altman?

Whenever people object to thing-x they go for the most prominent leader of thing-x.

I personally object from him trying to divert trillions in investment from potential helping the hungry type stuff which is popular to sticking slop in everything which many don't want.

The jacuzzi "parties" with VCs are more than questionable

- Callous disregard of lost jobs, disinformation, mental health issues / deaths, IP theft, environmental cost, skill atrophy

- Barely gave 1% of compute (on oldest chips) to safety team after promise of 20%

- Worked behind the scenes to try to land federal deal that gives mil no guardrails control and ability for mass surveillance

- Lied about China AI 'Marshall Plan' to get federal funding

- Tried to get MBS money ever after Jamal Kashoggi

While long, I'd recommend just reading the New Yorker article

Ilya Sutskever and Dario Amodei were high up at OpenAI before becoming competitors. They are just two of many people who have known Altman personally who have accused him of being a lying sociopath. I would not call that vague.

It is not just a question of morality. A sociopath with that amount of power can be a danger.

He fucked the RAM market. Not a biggie but I am salty.