DailyPost 2619
ALTMAN LOYALTY
Altman loyalty should find its place in both corporate history and in corporate governance as an outcome of the Altman saga that unfolded before the world like a bolt from the blue. The parallels with Steve Jobs were too conspicuous to be hidden and lots started to be written on the Steve Jobs trajectory post firing and how it changed the PC world and world forever. For Sam Altman the script turned out to something more unbelievable that the first action, which itself was happening after 38 years to tech entrepreneur of that caliber. They say that the historians don’t write history, there are incidents they are forced to record and this one undoubtedly belongs to that rare genre.
Five days is too small a time in tech history, or entrepreneurial history or the history of the world, but the Five Altman Days have been beyond lifetimes in history. Reams would be written on those five days for years and years to come, on every single topic from corporate governance to leadership to the epitome of loyalty that it turned out to be. Its was feast called Altman Loyalty, the world being convinced of the fact that it cannot be repeated again. OpenAI staffers displayed unusual loyalty after his firing last week.
A fired CEO coming back in five days is unheard of. The unstinted loyalty forced the firing to be transformed into a botched coup. A reinforced learning master reinforced his power. Reasons for firing by the board fell worse than a pack of cards. Altman owns no shares in OpenAI makes this loyalty even more intriguing. He controls no levers of power. Even unconnected people find him to be super charismatic and super smart. It is to a level, that you kind of feel it. The heart emoji wave on X was an evidence as OpenAI staffers expressed outrage and solidarity at Altman’s firing.
“OpenAI is nothing without its people” was the gamechanger message on X, while they signed a letter to the board openly threatening to quit, unless the CEO was reinstated. What a professional family! Even Harvard Business School would have never taught something like this. The reason to the creation of this Altman cult has been aptly expressed by Rewind AI CEO Dan Siroker; “one of the true missionaries” in world full of mercenaries. He has been variously described as a master of AI and persuasion. What he has achieved is not just a technological feat, it is human feat, AI is itself a minefield which he traversed in a manner, which no one else can.
NATURAL AND INSTANT MANIFESTATION OF LOYALTY OF THIS NATURE, THE WORLD HAD NEVER EXPERIENCED.
Sanjay Sahay
Have a nice evening.