In a recent strong-worded critique, Coinbase co-founder Brian Armstrong lambasted the board of OpenAI, a leading American AI research entity. Armstrong accused the board of causing a loss of approximately $80 billion in value, damaging American capitalism, and opening avenues for extensive litigation from disgruntled investors.
Armstrong alleged an overtaking of the organization by Effective Altruism (EA) proponents, decelerationists (decel) and AI safety advocates, labeling it a 'coup'. Armstrong maintained that this shift in governance and its ensuing decisions have driven the company into a downward spiral.
He urged talented individuals within OpenAI to resign and join any upcoming venture by Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, former noted figures associated with OpenAI. The Coinbase co-founder counseled that the new venture avoid the issues he sees plaguing OpenAI, specifically suggesting eschewing a 'non-profit woke board', expelling any decels or EAs, and avoiding unnecessary regulatory involvement.
He bade the team to concentrate on building and hastening the progress of their work and to feel no guilt for their efforts in creating something beneficial for the world. Armstrong attributed the value destruction underway at OpenAI to 'decel-thinking' practices similar to those witnessed at Google.
He blamed EA for loss of value in both the cryptocurrency domain and now AI. Armstrong also linked some of the problems to the city of San Francisco, tracing it back to Marxist ideology. He promoted the purging of such influences as the optimum approach to protect companies against risks, ironically pinpointing this as the real safety hazard the AI industry should be cautious about.