Austen Allred Profile picture
Nov 22, 2023 5 tweets 2 min read Read on X
Holy smokes.

OpenAI board member Helen Toner published an article Altman took issue with.

She described it as “an academic paper that analyzed the challenges that the public faces when trying to understand the intentions of the countries and companies developing A.I.”

lol.

👀 Image
Suffice it to say that’s not _all_ the article talks about.

The article is literally an analysis of different ways you can force AI companies (and governments using AI) to slow development, and recommendations on how they can be used and which are best. Image
For example (I’m not making this up) the “tying hands” method, where you encourage someone to make public declarations, then threaten “punishment,” such as being “subject to congressional investigation” or facing “disciplinary actions from the board of directors.” Image
But wait there’s more!

What is an example of an organization that deserves punishment, and should be subject to (as she calls them) “costly measures?”

OpenAI (where she sits on the board).

OpenAI released GPTs too early, and forced a “race to the bottom” Image
She closes by commending Anthropic who apparently did it right by _not_ releasing their model quickly, and recommends policymakers weave these “tools” of “costly measures” into their toolbelts.

Insane. Image

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More from @Austen

Sep 7
In one of the most fascinating podcasts I’ve ever listened to, the members of NPR’s This American Life got their testosterone levels tested.

All of the males had very low testosterone; some low enough doctors would recommend medication.

And a trans guest talks about how taking testosterone made them suddenly interested in science.Image
Image
I think it’s highly likely that our hormones and microbiome play a much bigger role in our thoughts and decision making than we give them credit for.
Read 4 tweets
Jun 28
The Supreme Court's Chevron ruling may be most impactful things to happen to startups in a long time, in ways that people don't realize.

A thread:
From AP: "The court’s 6-3 ruling on Friday overturned a 1984 decision colloquially known as Chevron that has instructed lower courts to defer to federal agencies when laws passed by Congress are not crystal clear."
In other words, federal agencies could interpret unclear law in any way that they saw fit, and simultaneously "hold anyone accountable" for any law in the way that they desired.

It's a gross overreach of power.
Read 13 tweets
Apr 24
It’s difficult to describe how insane a 25% tax on unrealized capital gains is.

Not a one-time 25% hit. It’s compounding, annually taking 25% of every dollar of potential increase before it can grow.

Not an exaggeration to say it could single-handedly crush the economy.
As my father-in-law (who is a farmer) would say, “You’re eating your seed corn!”
Of all the insane things here, perhaps the craziest is having unrealized gains for high net worth individuals taxed in “nine equal installments” the first year, and in subsequent years in “five annual installments.”

…wtf? Image
Read 5 tweets
Aug 22, 2023
PSA: If you’ve wanted to travel to Maui, it’s probably the best time ever to visit (other than Lahaina proper).

Beaches are empty. Airbnbs, hotels, rental cars are at 1/4 the usual price. Flights into Maui are empty.

Lahaina is closed. Rest of the island is safe and desperate.
Lahaina is closed. Maui is open.

There people who travel to places only after they’ve stabilized from recent natural disaster.

Pretty clever.

You get the place to yourself and rock bottom prices. Everyone desperate to get the economy going.

That’s where Maui is right now.
People calling me evil for this take…

I just spent the last 3 days talking to all sorts of shop owners on the ground. Talk to the mayor, governor, etc.

80% of the economy is tourism. The island cannot afford long periods of no visitors. Tens of thousands will lose jobs.
Read 11 tweets
Mar 10, 2023
There are two options at this point:

1. FDIC moves very quickly
2. Mass layoffs
The very brief breakdown of what happens from here:

1. If you had FDIC insured accounts in SVB (<$250k) you should get that cash shortly, next few days.

2. If you had accounts that weren't FDIC insured, you become a creditor. There's an asset firesale, you're first in line.
It seems entirely possible the firesale is enough to make account holders whole, but by no means certain.

And timing is the important part here. Being made whole 6 months from now doesn't help companies with a lot of payroll and not a lot of revenue (i.e. most startups).
Read 4 tweets
Jan 19, 2023
~90% of the mistakes startups make is realizing x needs to happen but not doing x for some reason that ultimately ends up being unimportant
This is why I'm convinced down markets are very, very healthy for startups.

Less time and money to waste, less need to spend all of your time trying to keep everyone happy, less optimizing for what investors want.

Building real businesses.
The biggest lie the devil ever told is that startups must choose between growing quickly and building a healthy company.
Read 4 tweets

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