Disclaimer: I do not work at OpenAI and have no inside knowledge of the situation.
I work in the finance industry. (Personal views are not those of my employer, etc, etc).
Some years ago, a few people from my team (2 on a team of ~7) were laid off as part of firm staff reductions.
My boss and my boss’s boss held a meeting with the rest of the team on the day those people left, explaining what had happened, reassuring us that no further layoffs were planned, describing who would be taking over what parts of the responsibilities of the laid-off people, etc.
On my understanding of employment, this was just...sort of...the basic standard of professionalism and courtesy?
If I had found out about layoffs at my firm through media coverage, or when I tried to email a coworker and their email no longer worked, I would be unhappy. If the only communication I got from above about reasons for the layoffs was that destroying the company ‘would be consistent with the mission’, I would be very unhappy. In any of those cases, I would strongly consider looking for jobs elsewhere.
It has sometimes seemed to me that the EA/nonprofit space does not follow the rules I am familiar with for the employer/employee relationship. Perhaps my experience in the famously kindly and generous finance industry has not prepared me for the cutthroat reality of nonprofit altruist organizations.
Nevertheless, any OpenAI employee with views similar to my own would be concerned and plausibly looking for a new job after the board fired the CEO with no justification or communication. If you want a one-sentence summary of the thought process, it could be:
‘If this is how they treat the CEO, how will they treat me?’
This is true, but in general the differences between an ordinary employee and a CEO go in the CEO’s favor. I believe this does also extend to ‘how are they fired’: on my understanding the modal way a CEO is ‘fired’ is by announcing that they have chosen to retire to pursue other opportunities/spend more time with their family, and receiving a gigantic severance package.
Perhaps my experience in the famously kindly and generous finance industry has not prepared me for the cutthroat reality of nonprofit altruist organizations.
...and then I wondered if you’ve seen Margin Call? It is truly a work of art.
My experiences are mostly in startups, but rarely on the actual founding team, so I have seen more stuff that was unbuffered by kind, diligent, “clueless” bosses.
My general impression is that “systems and processes” go a long way into creating smooth rides for the people at the bottom, but those things are not effectively in place (1) at the very beginning and (2) at the top when exceptional situations arise. Credentialed labor is generally better compensated in big organizations precisely because they have “systems” where people turn cranks reliably that reliably Make Number Go Up and then share out fractional amounts of “the number”.
Some years ago, a few people from my team (2 on a team of ~7) were laid off as part of firm staff reductions.
Did you ever see or talk with them again? Did they get nice severance packages? Severance packages are the normal way for oligarchs to minimize expensive conflict, I think.
Disclaimer: I do not work at OpenAI and have no inside knowledge of the situation.
I work in the finance industry. (Personal views are not those of my employer, etc, etc).
Some years ago, a few people from my team (2 on a team of ~7) were laid off as part of firm staff reductions.
My boss and my boss’s boss held a meeting with the rest of the team on the day those people left, explaining what had happened, reassuring us that no further layoffs were planned, describing who would be taking over what parts of the responsibilities of the laid-off people, etc.
On my understanding of employment, this was just...sort of...the basic standard of professionalism and courtesy?
If I had found out about layoffs at my firm through media coverage, or when I tried to email a coworker and their email no longer worked, I would be unhappy. If the only communication I got from above about reasons for the layoffs was that destroying the company ‘would be consistent with the mission’, I would be very unhappy. In any of those cases, I would strongly consider looking for jobs elsewhere.
It has sometimes seemed to me that the EA/nonprofit space does not follow the rules I am familiar with for the employer/employee relationship. Perhaps my experience in the famously kindly and generous finance industry has not prepared me for the cutthroat reality of nonprofit altruist organizations.
Nevertheless, any OpenAI employee with views similar to my own would be concerned and plausibly looking for a new job after the board fired the CEO with no justification or communication. If you want a one-sentence summary of the thought process, it could be:
‘If this is how they treat the CEO, how will they treat me?’
You just explained why it’s totally disanalogous. An ordinary employee is not a CEO {{citation needed}}.
This is true, but in general the differences between an ordinary employee and a CEO go in the CEO’s favor. I believe this does also extend to ‘how are they fired’: on my understanding the modal way a CEO is ‘fired’ is by announcing that they have chosen to retire to pursue other opportunities/spend more time with their family, and receiving a gigantic severance package.
I laughed out loud on this line...
...and then I wondered if you’ve seen Margin Call? It is truly a work of art.
My experiences are mostly in startups, but rarely on the actual founding team, so I have seen more stuff that was unbuffered by kind, diligent, “clueless” bosses.
My general impression is that “systems and processes” go a long way into creating smooth rides for the people at the bottom, but those things are not effectively in place (1) at the very beginning and (2) at the top when exceptional situations arise. Credentialed labor is generally better compensated in big organizations precisely because they have “systems” where people turn cranks reliably that reliably Make Number Go Up and then share out fractional amounts of “the number”.
Did you ever see or talk with them again? Did they get nice severance packages? Severance packages are the normal way for oligarchs to minimize expensive conflict, I think.