7 ms·

Ironically, OpenAI was conceived as a way to balance Google's dominance in AI.

by digbybk 10mo ago

dragonwriter 10mo ago
I thought it was a workaround to Google's complete disinterest in productizing the AI research it was doing and publishing, rather than a way to balance their dominance in a market which didn't meaningfully exist.
- mattnewton 10mo ago
  That’s how it turned out, but IIRC at the time of OpenAI’s founding, “AI” was search and RL which Google and deep mind were dominating, and self driving, which Waymo was leading. And OpenAI was conceptualized as a research org to compete. A lot has changed and OpenAI has been good at seeing around those corners.
- jpadkins 10mo ago
  Elon Musk specifically gave OAI $150M early on because of the risk of Google being the only Corp that has AGI or super-intelligence. These emails were part of the record in the lawsuit.
- jonny_eh 10mo ago
  That was actually Character.ai's founding story. Two researchers at Google that were frustrated by a lack of resources and the inability to launch an LLM based chatbot. The founders are now back at Google. OpenAI was founded based on fears that Google would completely own AI in the future.
- sgt101 10mo ago
  I think that Google didn't see the business case in that generation of models, and also saw significant safety concerns. If AI had been delayed by... 5 years... would the world really be a worse place? Yes - less exciting! But worse?
CobrastanJorji 10mo ago
Pffft. OpenAI was conceived to be Open, too.
- lemoncucumber 10mo ago
  It’s a common pattern for upstarts to embrace openness as a way to differentiate and gain a foothold then become progressively less open once they get bigger. Android is a great example.
  - bitpush 10mo ago
    Last I checked, Android is still open source (as AOSP) and people can do whatever-the-f-they-want with the source code. Are we defining open differently?
    - ipaddr 10mo ago
      Core is open source but for a device to be "Android compatible" and access the Google Play Store and other Google services, it must meet specific requirements from Google's Android Compatibility Program. These additional proprietary components are what make the final product closed source. The Android Open Source Project is not Android.
      - bitpush 10mo ago
        > The Android Open Source Project is not Android. Was "Android" the way you define it ever open? Isnt it similar to chromium vs chrome? chromium is the core, and chrome is the product built on top of it - which is what allows Comet, Atlas, Brave to be built on. That's the same thing what GrapheneOS, /e/ OS and others are doing - building on top of AOSP.
        oblio 10mo ago
        > Was "Android" the way you define it ever open? Yes. Initially all the core OS components were OSS.
kccqzy 10mo ago
Balance is too weak of a word. OpenAI was conceived specifically to prevent Google from getting AGI first. That was its original goal. At the time of its founding Google was the undisputed leader of AI anywhere in the world. Musk was then very worried about AGI being developed behind closed doors particularly Google, which was why he was the driving force behind the founding of OpenAI.
- kranke155 10mo ago
  The book Empire of AI describes him as being particularly fixated on Demis as some kind of evil genius. From the book, early OAI employees couldn’t take the entire thing too seriously and just focused on the work.
- wraptile 10mo ago
  > Musk was then very worried about AGI being developed behind closed doors *closed doors that aren't his

Ironically, OpenAI was conceived as a way to balance Google's dominance in AI.

by digbybk 10mo ago

Ironically, OpenAI was conceived as a way to balance Google's dominance in AI.

I thought it was a workaround to Google's complete disinterest in productizing the AI research it was doing and publishing, rather than a way to balance their dominance in a market which didn't meaningfully exist.

mattnewton 10mo ago
That’s how it turned out, but IIRC at the time of OpenAI’s founding, “AI” was search and RL which Google and deep mind were dominating, and self driving, which Waymo was leading. And OpenAI was conceptualized as a research org to compete. A lot has changed and OpenAI has been good at seeing around those corners.
jpadkins 10mo ago
Elon Musk specifically gave OAI $150M early on because of the risk of Google being the only Corp that has AGI or super-intelligence. These emails were part of the record in the lawsuit.
jonny_eh 10mo ago
That was actually Character.ai's founding story. Two researchers at Google that were frustrated by a lack of resources and the inability to launch an LLM based chatbot. The founders are now back at Google. OpenAI was founded based on fears that Google would completely own AI in the future.
sgt101 10mo ago
I think that Google didn't see the business case in that generation of models, and also saw significant safety concerns. If AI had been delayed by... 5 years... would the world really be a worse place? Yes - less exciting! But worse?

CobrastanJorji 10mo ago

Pffft. OpenAI was conceived to be Open, too.

lemoncucumber 10mo ago
It’s a common pattern for upstarts to embrace openness as a way to differentiate and gain a foothold then become progressively less open once they get bigger. Android is a great example.
- bitpush 10mo ago
  Last I checked, Android is still open source (as AOSP) and people can do whatever-the-f-they-want with the source code. Are we defining open differently?
  - ipaddr 10mo ago
    Core is open source but for a device to be "Android compatible" and access the Google Play Store and other Google services, it must meet specific requirements from Google's Android Compatibility Program. These additional proprietary components are what make the final product closed source. The Android Open Source Project is not Android.
    - bitpush 10mo ago
      > The Android Open Source Project is not Android. Was "Android" the way you define it ever open? Isnt it similar to chromium vs chrome? chromium is the core, and chrome is the product built on top of it - which is what allows Comet, Atlas, Brave to be built on. That's the same thing what GrapheneOS, /e/ OS and others are doing - building on top of AOSP.
      - oblio 10mo ago
        > Was "Android" the way you define it ever open? Yes. Initially all the core OS components were OSS.

kccqzy 10mo ago

Balance is too weak of a word. OpenAI was conceived specifically to prevent Google from getting AGI first. That was its original goal. At the time of its founding Google was the undisputed leader of AI anywhere in the world. Musk was then very worried about AGI being developed behind closed doors particularly Google, which was why he was the driving force behind the founding of OpenAI.

kranke155 10mo ago
The book Empire of AI describes him as being particularly fixated on Demis as some kind of evil genius. From the book, early OAI employees couldn’t take the entire thing too seriously and just focused on the work.
wraptile 10mo ago
> Musk was then very worried about AGI being developed behind closed doors *closed doors that aren't his