I'm constantly surprised by the fact that Sam Altman is the one in charge of OpenAI. As far as I know, he dropped out of college to start a company that folded (Edit: this is wrong, he sold it, was a bust for investors though), ended up advising companies at YCombinator, Paul G liked him, and he just sort of made lots of connections. Then he became CEO of Open AI? I'm likely missing a step, right?
Don't get me wrong, I don't think he's a moron or anything, but it's fascinating to me that he doesn't have ANY of the following things that I'd assume makes one qualified:
* Published AI research
* Sold a company
* Worked at a Unicorn or top tech company
* Reputation in OSS as a hacker/builder
Surely there's more to the story? Do people who he has advised at YCombinator all agree he's brilliant and insightful? What am I missing?
EDIT: I was wrong, he did sell a company. My mistake!
That does change things, but I'd like to hear more from people who have good things to say about him. Maybe he's given some amazing advice to really important companies that we're unaware of. It would be nice to hear more of how he got his reputation.
Don't get me wrong, I don't think he's a moron or anything, but it's fascinating to me that he doesn't have ANY of the following things that I'd assume makes one qualified: * Published AI research * Sold a company * Worked at a Unicorn or top tech company * Reputation in OSS as a hacker/builder
Surely there's more to the story? Do people who he has advised at YCombinator all agree he's brilliant and insightful? What am I missing?
EDIT: I was wrong, he did sell a company. My mistake!
That does change things, but I'd like to hear more from people who have good things to say about him. Maybe he's given some amazing advice to really important companies that we're unaware of. It would be nice to hear more of how he got his reputation.