Category Archives: Microsoft

No Interview Needed to Join Microsoft After Getting Fired From OpenAI – Sam Altman

Fig. 1. Former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Getty Images, 2023.

#chatGPT #Microsoft #openai #boardgovernance

Update: Sam Altman is returning to OpenAI as CEO, ending days of drama and negotiations with the help of heavy investor Microsoft and Silicon Valley insiders (Bloomberg, 11/22/23). In sum, there were more issues without Sam than with him and the board realized that pretty fast. So now some board members have to be shown the door.

Some may view a fired executive like Sam Altman as damaged goods but we all know that corporate boards get these things wrong all the time, and it’s more about office politics and cliques than substantive performance.

The board described their decision as a “deliberative review process which concluded that he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities. The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI.” Yet the board’s statement makes little sense and is out of context for an emerging technology at a time such as this.

As a result of this nonsensical firing, there was likely no job interview when Sam Altman joined Microsoft. He was already validated as a thought leader in the tech and generative AI community, so it was hardly needed. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella was a fan and already invested billions into OpenAI. He saw the open opportunity and took it fast before another tech company could. The same thing happened when Oracle CEO Larry Ellison hired Mark Hurd in 2010 after HP fired him and the results were great.

This begs the question of how valuable are job interviews in the area of emerging tech or for people with visible achievements. What is the H.R. screener or some tech director in a fiefdom going to ask you? They would hardly understand the likely answers in a meaningful way anyway. I know many tech and business leaders who have wasted time in dumb interviews in contexts such as these and it is a poor reflection of the companies setting them up this way.

In other words, plenty of people will not want to work for OpenAI because of how Altman was publicly treated while Microsoft looks more inclusive and forward-thinking. So I am sure many people will leave OpenAI to follow Altman at Microsoft and that is really how OpenAI shot themselves in the foot especially considering Microsoft’s size.

Any failings and risks designed into ChatGPT are as much the problem of OpenAIs as it is every other company working in this vastly unknown and emerging area of tech. To blame that on Altman in this context seems unreasonable and thus he is a fall guy.

There are good and bad things with AI just like with any technology, yet the good far outweighs the bad in this context. Microsoft knows that there are problems in AI in cyber security, fraud, IP theft, and more. The bigger and more capable their AI team the better they can address these issues, now with Altman’s help.

Now, of course, Altman has to be evaluated on his performance at Microsoft making sure AI stays viable and within the approved guardrails, and hopefully innovates a few solutions to make society better. Yet the free market of other tech companies and regulators also have that responsibility.

About the Author:

Jeremy Swenson is a disruptive-thinking security entrepreneur, futurist/researcher, and senior management tech risk consultant. Over 17 years he has held progressive roles at many banks, insurance companies, retailers, healthcare orgs, and even governments including being a member of the Federal Reserve Secure Payment Task Force. Organizations relish in his ability to bridge gaps and flesh out hidden risk management solutions while at the same time improving processes. He is a frequent speaker, published writer, podcaster, and even does some pro bono consulting in these areas. As a futurist, his writings on digital currency, the Target data breach, and Google combining Google + video chat with Google Hangouts video chat have been validated by many. He holds an MBA from St. Mary’s University of MN, an MSST (Master of Science in Security Technologies) degree from the University of Minnesota, and a BA in political science from the University of Wisconsin Eau Claire.

Why Would Salesforce Pay Billions More for LinkedIn?

In June Microsoft agreed to buy LinkedIn for $26.2 billion in the largest acquisition of its time, betting the professional social network can recharge the company’s software offerings despite recent difficulties.
Microsoft LinkedIn Deal
Microsoft never had a good social media platform and their search and web analytics still can’t shake a stick a Google’s.  Although Microsoft has done well with the Surface, Office 365, and business software tools like SharePoint, OneDrive/Cloud, and Azure, they have struggled with their Nokia phones running on Windows – wasting money.  LinkedIn is fiercely respected among recruiters and job seekers, and had great income streams in prior quarters.  Yet they have scaled back what they offer to free members, removed their events feature years ago, and have made many user and cosmetic changes that have forced some people to use LinkedIn only as a tool to promote their own sites which they can directly control and monetize – thus driving their revenue and market appeal down.

Buying LinkedIn cost Microsoft $196 per share, a 50% premium from their before sale announcement price.  This is a win for LinkedIn shareholders, and is likely a win for Microsoft in the long run.  Once Microsoft integrates its systems with LinkedIn it will have a giant CRM like Salesforce.com or Oracle.  This CRM will be used to tastefully listen and market Microsoft subscription solutions to LinkedIn users, among related items.  Yet even if that effort backfires it does not matter because LinkedIn by itself produces good income.  Thus, with some user experience tweaks, for example, bringing back the event feature which will allow them to see what interests and products can be inferred from event registrations.  Facebook presently does a good job at this.  Even if a person does not go to the event they have still indicated interest by registering, and that is valuable data especially when cross referenced with other LinkedIn data.  The key is data mining, analytics, cloud services, and tastefully cross marketing and selling these and yet unknown services.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-89PWn0QaaY

Observing the above, it’s of no surprise that Salesforce was one of the early bidders to buy LinkedIn but it is a surprise that they lost out since they like Oracle have such a nasty track record of successful acquisitions.  Recently in a securities filing, LinkedIn disclosed an email from Salesforce CEO Marc Benioff in which he says that Salesforce would have increased its bid and restructured its offer had it been giving an opportunity by LinkedIn.

“Reflecting on the additional proposals it made after LinkedIn and Microsoft agreed to exclusivity, the email indicated that Party A would have bid much higher and made changes to the stock/cash components of its offers, but it was acting without communications from LinkedIn,” the filing says. “The Transactions Committee also considered the contractual provisions contained in the definitive merger agreement with Microsoft, including those relating to discussions with third parties, and determined not to respond.” (Salesforce’s Benioff says he would have paid more than $26B for LinkedIn).

Yet after carefully reviewing how it handled the bidding process to make sure it wasn’t legally exposed, LinkedIn’s deal teams decided not to respond to the email.  Although, the Benioff email didn’t say how much more he would have offered – many new sources are speculating $4.2 to $4.7 billion more than Microsoft.  Let’s hope both companies continue to compete to make the industry better.

By Jeremy Swenson