J. Martin1d ago
evacide
The tl;dr here is that something that most people in Silicon Valley already know: Sam Altman lies a lot. Just constantly. About big and little things. And every effort to hold him accountable has failed. https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2026/04/13/sam-altman-may-control-our-future-can-he-be-trusted
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
Apr 6 at 5:12pmWeb
Show threadeestileib (she/hers)1d ago

@evacide

I have yet to meet a tech big timer who does not lie all the time.

Show threadOrion Ussner kidder1d ago
@eestileib @evacide Considering how much they all worship Steve "Reality Distortion Field" Jobs, that tracks.
Show threadAnton1d ago
@evacide just like his magical parrot.
Coincidence? I think not.
Show threadfuzzyfuzzyfungus1d ago
@evacide I wish there were more attention paid to the fact that the people who talk about 'AI alignment' are...desperately rarely...the sort of people you'd want a bot to be more closely aligned with.
Show threadGabriel N1d ago

@evacide a secret henchman of the PayPal Mafia, always following its _modus operandi_.

#TheDeparted

Show threadPatrick.sh1d ago
@evacide Suchir Balaji tried to hold him accountable and look where he ended up.
Show threadTyrone Slothrop1d ago
@evacide in that case, I wish they would have just titled the piece “Sam Altman is a Lying Liar who Lies All The Time”
Show threadJason Lefkowitz1d ago
@slothrop @evacide They assigned the piece to Ronan Farrow, which is kind of a sub rosa way of making the same point
Show threadTyrone Slothrop1d ago
@jalefkowit @evacide Farrow’s bio piece on the New Yorker site certainly looks impressive
Show threadJason Lefkowitz1d ago

@slothrop @evacide Among other things, he was part of the team that took down Harvey Weinstein. And Weinstein did not spare any expense to try and stop them, either.

I'm a sworn enemy of nepo babies in general, but Farrow has earned his stripes

https://removepaywalls.com/https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/07/us/harvey-weinstein-new-yorker.html

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/07/us/harvey-weinstein-new-yorker.html

View article without paywall

View article without paywall
Show threadAndreas K1d ago
@slothrop
That's simply not true. I'm sure he sleeps from time to time too.
@evacide
Show thread/\ndy1d ago
@evacide I sense a trend.
Show threadWladimir Palant1d ago
@evacide I like it how nicely this article demonstrates Betteridge's law of headlines.
Show threadStephen Dioxide 1d ago
@WPalant @evacide Beat me to it.
Show threadVon Xylofon1d ago
@WPalant @evacide It was surely written with Betteridge's law of headlines in mind.
Show threadParade du Grotesque 💀1d ago

@evacide

https://archive.is/A26KA

Show threadNeil E. Hodges1d ago
@evacide Just like the president. :/
Show threadAndreas K1d ago
@tk
Yeah, lying seems to a way to be successful in the USA.
@evacide
Show threadNeil E. Hodges1d ago
@yacc143 @evacide Might be a consequence of (and motivation for) the destruction of the US education system that's been going on for decades. >:(
Show threadCeryni1d ago
@evacide Suddenly LLMs hallucinating makes more sense.
Show threadKierkethumbs up convincingly1d ago
@evacide DjAltman
Show threadGabriel N1d ago

@evacide

“When an article’s title is a question, the answer is ‘no’ most of the times.”

Bingo.

Show threadthe elder sea1d ago
@wtrmt Was going to say, if the first sentence of the article isn't just "No." then it's a complete failure.
Show threadGabriel N1d ago

@eldersea there’s an intro after the title, before the article:

“New interviews and closely guarded documents shed light on the persistent doubts about the head of OpenAI.”

I have not seen the documents, but had no doubts about him either.

Show threadKarin Dalziel1d ago
@evacide well that header graphic is sure going to give me nightmares, WTF
Show threadFazal Majid1d ago
@nirak @evacide looks like the ten-headed demon Ravana from the Hindu epic the Ramayana.
Show threadBruce1d ago
@evacide me after reading The New Yorker piece on AI.
Show threadNienkez 🔻1d ago
@evacide @regendans The article loses instant credibility by using an AI generated image.
Show threadD21d ago

@Nienkez @evacide @regendans

Or — and hear me out on this wild idea — mock and scorn that AI image separately from evaluting the 50-70 *pages* of content making the same points you’d make.

Show threadNienkez 🔻1d ago
@cascheranno @evacide @regendans sure, but if you use it, you loose credibiltity in criticising it. Just pay a photographer for a creepy picture of Altman. It is not hard. Instead you say Altman is an untrusthworthy man, but I prefer to use his crap than pay an actual human.
Show threadD28h ago
@Nienkez @evacide @regendans lose? Ok. Zero out? Given how many editorial and management pressures exist between author and publication, I just grimace and boost my skepticism.
Show threadNienkez 🔻8h ago
@cascheranno @evacide @regendans fair enough. I think it is a weird choice.
Show threadD28h ago
@Nienkez @evacide I mean, the article Brings The Goods. It’s gathered specifics, ties allegations to dates & names, and really ties down details that eventually get overwritten when victors rewrite the history.
Show threadNienkez 🔻8h ago
@cascheranno @evacide But if you don't have the courage of your convictions, it is pointless. You let them rewrite history.
Show threadD28h ago

@Nienkez @evacide I mean, are we talking about the board of directors who the article discusses, people pressured to not speak out, the writer(s) of this article, managing editors, whoever controls their hiring /firing?

Having pissed off a billionaire, I can vouch for how one’s choices shift when it’s “fight and be broke, vs. affording to send your kids to college”.

Show threadRealGene ☣️1d ago
@evacide
"One of Altman’s batch mates in the first Y Combinator cohort was Aaron Swartz, a brilliant but troubled coder who died by suicide in 2013 and is now remembered in many tech circles as something of a sage. Not long before his death, Swartz expressed concerns about Altman to several friends. “You need to understand that Sam can never be trusted,” he told one. “He is a sociopath. He would do anything.”"
Show threadMagnus Ahltorp1d ago
@RealGene @evacide Interesting word choice. It's true if by "troubled" they mean "troubled by the government and MIT", but still doesn't really capture the scope.
Show threadBrett1d ago

@evacide

I want to know why Ronan Farrow thinks this is even a question worth asking? Of all the companies teetering on the brink OpenAI is the one that will not make it once the bubble pops.

Show threadJack William Bell1d ago

@evacide

I have a whole rant about this as a more general breakdown in our society. The last line is: "We have a problem with lying assholes and we need to fix it. Our future as a nation depends on this."

Show threadDNA Digital1d ago
@evacide Not in any dimensional way can he be trusted. Not now or ever
Show threadbk1d ago
@evacide
Invoking @ianbetteridge ’s law ( big time )…
Show threadmausmalone1d ago
@evacide I mean, I think that should be well known outside of Silicon Valley just from, like, the stuff he says in public. But it's good of the MSM to actually say it out loud for the totally unconnected normies.
Show threadKlaus Frank1d ago
@evacide tl;dr: no
Show threadminentromaxinfo1d ago
@evacide "Sam Altman May Control Our Future" - How's he going to do that with Meth-amphetamine Clippy and no possible path to making any profit??
Show threadMr. Murphy1d ago
@evacide lord no. lol
Show threadLightfighter1d ago
@evacide Maybe he should run for President
Show threadFredrik Bülow1d ago

@evacide I really recommend this podcast on the topic. At one point Karen Hao tried to figure out if Altman is a boomer or doomer. She asked various people. Everyone who was a doomer thought that Altman was also a doomer and vice versa.

Tech Won't Save Us: We All Suffer from OpenAI’s Pursuit of Scale w/ Karen Hao [Replay]

Episode webpage: https://techwontsave.us/

Media file: https://clrtpod.com/m/pscrb.fm/rss/p/arttrk.com/p/2D5E6/mgln.ai/e/1246/traffic.megaphone.fm/TBIEA2895422424.mp3

Tech Won’t Save Us

Tech Won't Save Us
Show threadOberst Enzian1d ago
@evacide There’s been no efforts to hold him accountable. Rather, people keep throwing money at him because they want in on his big con.
Show threadDan Fixes Coin-Ops1d ago
@evacide his trial got pushed back 'til 2028 and all :(
Show threadGM70771d ago
@evacide His sister is telling the truth.
Show threadbookandswordblog1d ago
@evacide I liked this recent post on "CEO Says a Thing" as a template for journalists https://karlbode.com/ceo-said-a-thing-journalism/
"CEO Said A Thing!" Journalism

"CEO said a thing!" journalism involves parroting the claims of a business leader or executive with absolutely no context, correction, or challenge whatsoever, no matter how elaborate the delusion.

The Fine Print*
Show threadchris overcash1d ago

@evacide @briankrebs I always believed his sister… and lean heavily towards his involvement in Suchir Balaji’s death.

The guy is super fucked up.

Show threadDogiedog641d ago

@evacide

It's exceptionally easy to lie when you're a soulless sociopath with no morals or standards or ethics or real stances on anything. I wish him the worst.

Show threadPaul Giulan1d ago
@evacide Suchir Balaji
Show threadHacker 15h ago
@evacide "in other eras some of the company’s accounting practices would have been considered “borderline fraudulent.” The board member told us, “The company levered up financially in a way that’s risky and scary right now.” (OpenAI disputes this.)"
Show threadПротест и сопротивление1h ago

@evacide The supposedly serious media should stop using tabloid clickbait titles.

First, Altman controls no-one's future, not even his own. Second, he's a known liar and asking if he can be trusted is the cheapest, laziest clickbait of all.

This bubble will burst. LLMs will join crypto, nfts and web3.0 in the tech dumpster.

As for accountability, every bubble is just a ponzi scheme. The organizers could be prosecuted accordingly. What is missing is political will.