This has been going on for months. Sam sidelined Ilya out of his job a month ago, after a long time of Ilya trying to convince him he was going down the wrong course.
At the time, Sam was more powerful than Ilya for sure. But framing their relationship as employee/employer when they were both in the board seems not correct.
imo Ilya has his own reasons and benefits that he thought he would gain from ousting Sam. However, it caused the wildfire backfire we are all watching now insert popcorn
But why would Ilya publicly say he regrets his decision and wants Sam to come back. You think his existential worries are less important than being liked by his coworkers??
I think this is probably the right take -- that Sam was getting more credit than others felt he deserved, and because of that attention maybe was not treating everyone with the respect they felt they deserved -- but this struck me as odd: "So, Ilya .... decided to take him out. [T]hey gave us some EA reasoning about how "scared" they were about what Sam was pursuing..."
Did they? I never heard any "EA" reasoning, or any reasoning at all from the board beyond their statement that he was insufficiently candid.
I don't think Ilya is jealous, I think he just fundamentally is more devoted to the original non-profit mission, and the AI research.
Sam is a VC guy who has been going on a world tour to not just get in the spotlight, but to actually accumulate power, influence, and more capital investment.
At some point, this means Ilya no longer trusts that Sam is actually devoted to the original mission to benefit all of humanity. So, I think it's a little more complicated than just being "jealous".
On Friday, the overwhelming take on HN was that Ilya was “the good guy” and was concerned about principal. Now, it’s kinda obvious that all the claims made about Sam — like “he’s in it for fame and money” — might apply more to Ilya.
I think Ilya was naive and didn't see this coming and good that he reliased quickly announced on twitter and made the right call to get Sam back.
Otherwise it was like Ilya vs Sam showdown,and people were siding towards Ilya for agi and all. But this behind the scene looks like corporate power struggle and coup.
My point is that it's possible that Ilya was not the driving force behind Sam's firing, even if he ultimately voted for it. If this is the case, it makes Ilya's non-apology apology a lot less weird.
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