Good move. OpenClaw is alpha quality, very dangerous, super useful and super fun - which amplifies the danger. It’s a disaster waiting to happen and a massive risk for a solo dev to take on. So best to trade it for a killer job offer and transfer all that risk.
To get a sense of what this guy was going through listen to the first 30 mins of Lex’s recent interview with him. The cybersquatting and token/crypto bullshit he had to deal with is impressive.
He's not really trading anything though. He was hired by OpenAI. OpenClaw will remain free and open source (it's the first line of his blog post). He says that OpenAI will allow him to work on it and already sponsors it so maybe that means he'll have time to improve it, I guess.
Given he's moving to SF to work in their office I presume part of it is he'll be working in-house on their commercial replacement, and will continue to cover costs on the OSS version which he's free to work on. His recent posts make it clear they've got plans for their own stuff to replace it.
Right, he indicated he's losing $10-20k a month on OpenClaw. Might as well let OpenAI absorb those losses and join the rocket ship.
The guy is a multi millionaire from selling his old software so I'm doubtful it is about the money for him at this point as much as it is the experience working with this tech on another level.
Yes, just like Jony Ive has been doing
Lex's interview https://youtu.be/YFjfBk8HI5o.
> Listen to... Lex
People can do that? I always assumed Lex was a CIA psyop to experiment with the ability to make people sleep on demand.
While that might take it a little too far, Lex surely is a dangerous individual. On various occasions did he sympathize with the war and terror that Russia is doing in Ukraine. I do not click on any of his content because I will not support these (and a few other questionable, to say the least) views of his. Also his image of an MIT researcher is hilarious.
> On various occasions did he sympathize with the war and terror that Russia is doing in Ukraine.
I'm not a devotee of his but I've listened to a few of his podcasts when I like the guest. I have an idea of how someone would come away with your impression given lex's interview style but I'd be pretty surprised if anything he said would, to me, fit your impression.
That said, I'd like an example if you have something specific to point to that might change my mind or if it's just a general takeaway you've gotten from a corpus of interviews on the topic (which would be totally valid but wouldn't change my mind).
> That said, I'd like an example if you have something specific to point to that might change my mind
This guy wanted Putin on his podcast to hear his side of the story (let that sink in) and spoke Russian to Zelensky. Willingly wanting to provide a platform for a mass murderer who is best known for large-scale social media propaganda.
This is not an "impression" of his "interview style". This guy implicitly supports terrorist acts.
> This guy wanted Putin on his podcast to hear his side of the story (let that sink in)
Many people have interviewed serial killers and not supported serial killers.
I would very much like to know Putin's actual motivations which would unlikely be spoken but his stated motives would also be enlightening.
I'm sure he'd go on with the standard "Nazis in Ukraine" line but in a 2-3 hour interview, I might get some new insights I don't get from 3 sentence sound bites.
We know so much about Hitler from his own writings and speeches. It seems to me that your philosophy on "platforming" Putin would also apply to making the words of Hitler available to the public.
Is there someone you think _could_ interview Putin responsibly?
> spoke Russian to Zelensky
I don't see the significance of that. They both speak Russian and English fluently. I don't know if Friedman speaks Ukranian but I'm not understanding what the implication is here. Surely the interview was in English since the podcast is?
> This is not an "impression" of his "interview style". This guy implicitly supports terrorist acts.
Implicitly being the key word here and is certainly subjective. If the body of evidence you're presenting is "would interview Putin" and "spoke Russian to Zelensky", I don't find that convincing.
> Is there someone you think _could_ interview Putin responsibly?
No, and no one should, see next answer.
> Implicitly being the key word here and is certainly subjective. If the body of evidence you're presenting is "would interview Putin" and "spoke Russian to Zelensky", I don't find that convincing.
"Would interview Putin" implies "is willing to provide a huge international platform for a terrorist and still-active mass murderer who is best known for his effective propaganda of peoples' minds". If you do not find that convincing, you are not alone at all. This has been the objective of Russia all along.
Yes. How do so many people fall for this guy? I find him pretty creepy, to be honest.
Pretty sure he’s a complete fraud too. He associates himself with MIT despite only having had a short stint teaching non-credit classes. One of his papers was apparently so flawed it’s been wiped from existence. Plenty of info online if you want to go down the rabbit hole.
I'm a big fan of his. I particularly enjoy his long technical interviews like the one he did with Peter.
You don't really listen for Lex, but his guests.
He's just another alt right podcast grifter.
It really is quite funny though isn't it. Yes, it's a fucking hand grenade that will blow up at any moment. It's perfect for a one man band startup. Because there's massive upside and at the end of the day if it blows up he's just back to sqaure one, what did you expect from a 1 man band.
But wait. Here he comes. Hero of the hour. Sam Altman.
Let's take that wildly dangerous, lightly thought through product, and give it the backing of the leading AI lab. Let's take all that pending liability and slap it straight onto the largest private company in AI.
OpenClaw is more like an art project than a consumer product. It has shown clear consumer product demand. The next step is making it a safer consumer product.
> OpenClaw is more like an art project than a consumer product
I think this is true for a lot of vibe coded applications. Never thought about calling it an art project but it hits home.
You definitely have a point there.