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dgerard@awful.systems

OpenAI ditches non-profit board, will spin off as venture capital lottery ticket (www.reuters.com)

submitted 3 months ago by dgerard@awful.systems to c/techtakes@awful.systems

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[–] hairyvisionary@fosstodon.org 6 points 3 months ago (1 children)

@dgerard So um now we can get on into the sunk cost fallacy phase of "AI"-pre-winter? I mean how much how much VC money have they already burnt to heat up sand at data centers? Does MICROS~1 granting them Azure use count?

[–] dgerard@awful.systems 12 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (2 children)

Apparently MS gives OpenAI Azure credits, but those are near cost price - so if OpenAI uses them, MS has to spend real money on GPUs and electricity.

MS also has rights to OpenAI's software. So OpenAI is functionally a Microsoft subsidiary that pretends to be a separate company to insulate MS from blame for the shit OpenAI pulls.

[–] hairyvisionary@fosstodon.org 4 points 3 months ago (1 children)

@dgerard Right, that actually is investor money being set on fire to activate sand; and I guess MS own half of the previously existing for-profit OpenAI; mostly this makes me wonder how much more money they can set fire to and how fast

[–] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 4 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

I'm actually shocked at how desperate capitalists are to finding their next hype bubble. Like the fact it is good for statistics is the only whiff of something real they needed to go all in.

Can no one afford steady incremental returns anymore?

EDIT word

[–] cstross@wandering.shop 5 points 3 months ago

@grrgyle @techtakes I suspect steady/incremental returns mean dwindling asset value in the current business environment, typified by rapid churn and major tech transitions every decade (to say nothing of climate change and an unstable global political situation). If 10% of your investment portfolio becomes non-viable every decade (eg. no good owning coal fields any more) you have to grow fast or die. At least, that's how the investment funds see it.

[–] Evinceo@awful.systems 2 points 2 months ago

When the music stops can't MS just let OpenAI go bankrupt and keep the tech?