I thought the Ronan Farrow/Andrew Marantz New Yorker article on OpenAI and Sam Altman in particular reveals many important details and helps settle several speculations (e.g. about what happened when Altman was briefly fired from OpenAI). The overall portrayal of Altman as frankly a compulsive liar is much needed.

However, like many Farrow and Marantz seem to take the so-called "existential risk" framing of AI seriously. I really wish people would stop doing that. In this case it makes the article feel incoherent in places.

This technology by itself does not pose a unique risk. It's the people, organizations, and governments around it, and their behavior with respect to it, that generate risk. Treating the technology alone as uniquely existentially risky provides cover for a wide variety of bad actors to both continue doing their work as well as to shrug and say "oops" if something goes catastrophically wrong or if smaller harms accumulate into intolerably large ones. The very framing provides an accountability shield, which by my read contradicts what Farrow himself suggests is needed, namely more accountability. I take this from this article, his previous work, and comments he makes in interviews (e.g., this one with Decoder.

We need to stop catastrophizing. It's thought and action terminating.

#AI #GenAI #GenerativeAI #OpenAI #SamAltman #RonanFarrow #AndrewMarantz #NewYorker #xrisk #ExistentialRisk #AISafety
Ronan Farrow on Sam Altman's strained relationship with the truth | Decoder

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“This account of Altman’s time at #YCombinator is based on discussions with several Y.C. founders and partners, in addition to contemporaneous materials, all of which indicate that the parting was not entirely mutual. On one occasion, Graham told Y.C. colleagues that, prior to his removal, “Sam had been lying to us all the time.”

YC founders deceived …

““Guys, I’ve had enough,” Musk replied. “Either go do something on your own or continue with OpenAI as a nonprofit”—otherwise “I’m just being a fool who is essentially providing free funding for you to create a startup.” He quit, acrimoniously, five months later.”

Mini Oligarchs ripping off Oligarchs …

“Carroll Wainwright, another researcher, said that they were part of a “continual slide toward emphasizing #products over #safety.” After the release of #GPT-4, Leike e-mailed members of the board. “OpenAI has been going off the rails on its mission,” he wrote. “We are prioritizing the product and #revenue above all else, followed by AI capabilities, research and scaling, with alignment and safety coming third.” He continued, “Other companies like Google are learning that they should deploy faster and ignore safety problems.”

Profit over safety …

This “ #Altman / #OpenAI / #AI meets #Startups and AI Engineers” story by #RonanFarrow and #AndrewMarantz in the #NewYorker is everything you expect from USA tech and #SiliconValley these days.

#AI / #finance / #pathology <https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/04/13/sam-altman-may-control-our-future-can-he-be-trusted > (paywall) / <https://archive.md/a2vqW> / <https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=47659135>

Sam Altman May Control Our Future—Can He Be Trusted?

New interviews and closely guarded documents shed light on the persistent doubts about the head of OpenAI, Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz write.

The New Yorker
Antisocial by Andrew Marantz review – America's online extremists

A compelling account of how far-right firestarters helped ‘the world’s most gifted media troll’ to become the US president

The Guardian
One can only recommand to read "The illiberal order" by #AndrewMarantz about the political shift of the #republicanparty . The link between right and #Hungaria is fascinating but also shows how unprepared democratic institutions are fascing slow but radical changes. There is a parralel to do with the #climatechangedenial . Thanks to the #NewYorker magazine.