Internet moguls are being held hostage by the entertainment system!

Chapter 380 Investing in OpenAI: Oda's Cry for Help
The early cessation of the wind and rain allowed Chen Xiu's guests to arrive sooner.

At 18 p.m., as dusk fell, he met Sam Altman and Ilya Suzikwi at the Four Seasons Hotel, who had flown in from Silicon Valley.

Chen Xiu was more familiar with Sam Altman because he hosted every new product launch event for ChatGPT in his previous life.

To outsiders, Sam Altman is the key figure behind OpenAI, akin to the relationship between Elon Musk and Tesla.

However, Sam did not make a very friendly impression on him at their first meeting, while Ilya was much more approachable.

"Hello, Mr. Sam, Mr. Ilya."

Chen Xiu extended her hand to the two of them, just as she would to anyone else.

But Sam only glanced at him, while Ilya smiled and shook his hand.

"Hello, Mr. Xiu, Elon has told us about your situation."

"I thought he would come with you."

"He's a very busy person. Even back when he was at OpenAI, he only devoted 5 to 10 hours a week to it..."

"Ilya!"

Sam interrupted his speech, then glanced at Ilya with a slightly gloomy look.

Seeing this, instead of calming down, Ilya made a funny face and explained to Chen Xiu.

“I’m sorry, Sam is a bit eccentric and taciturn, and he doesn’t like me talking about projects with others, but I think these are things you need to know.”

"Understood, please follow me."

Chen Xiu was not offended; she simply turned and led the two of them to the coffee shop.

When in Rome, do as the Romans do. These foreigners preferred to discuss business in a coffee shop rather than in a private room.

Moreover, even in the evening now, they don't seem to have the problem of not being able to sleep after drinking too much coffee.

On her way to the coffee shop, Chen Xiu kept an eye on the two people behind her while mentally verifying the information she had gathered over the past few days.

Sam Altman is taciturn and more focused on technology, fitting the traditional geek image; Ilya Suzikvi is approachable, technically skilled, and has much better communication skills than Sam.

No wonder the latter was able to get the former removed through the board of directors, although he eventually had to be brought back. This farce was certainly entertaining...

Upon arriving at the coffee shop, the three chose a table by the window where they would be undisturbed.

After sitting down, Chen Xiu, as the host who had invited them, said without hesitation, "Shall we get straight to the point, or would you like to have something to drink first?"

Let's save each other some time.

Sam spoke before Ilya could.

He glanced at the latter, then continued to Chen Xiu, "Mr. Xiu..."

"According to your custom, you can just call me by my name; there's no need to add any honorifics."

“Okay, Show, based on what I’ve learned from Elon, you’re willing to invest in Open AI, this non-profit project, right? I need to confirm that first, which is also the main reason we’re here today.”

"To be more precise, it should be 'intended investment'."

Chen Xiu scrutinized the words, pointing out the difference between the two.

Sam frowned, not quite satisfied with Chen Xiu's answer, but did not immediately react.

"Xiu, let me introduce OpenAI to you first."

Ilya took over the conversation, clearly noticing that Chen Xiu and Sam were about to have a verbal exchange and wanted to interrupt.

Chen Xiu glanced at him and said without hesitation, "Please speak."

Ilya took a sip of the lemonade on the table, coughed twice, and rocked forward quickly.

"As a non-profit organization, OpenAI's founders initially envisioned it as a tool to advance welfare and serve humanity."

"In 16, our first product was an open-source reinforcement learning tool called OpenAI Gym Beta, which we hoped would enhance the learning capabilities of physical robots to help them perform basic household chores..."

"Excuse me, I'd like to interrupt."

Chen Xiu stopped Ilya and asked with a somewhat unexpected tone, "Is your current research focus on humanoid robot technology?"

"This is one of the main directions of attack."

"Chat models, supercomputing technology, and video generation tools that don't involve big data training?"

"..."*2
Chen Xiu's question startled both Sam and Ilya on the other side.

The difference is that, after regaining their senses, Ilya's face showed mostly surprise and disbelief, while Sam's eyes shone with a sense of approval.

Before coming here today, Sam and Ilya thought Chen Xiu was just a foreign tycoon who had been fooled by Musk and didn't understand what technology was at all.

All they need to do is carry on with the deception to the end, and then they'll be showered with gold coins...

As a result, Chen Xiu's question directly dispelled their misconception.

The person on the other side is actually tech-savvy!

Thinking of this, Ilya quickly adjusted her prepared line of dialogue, vaguely saying, "The areas you mentioned are also areas we are researching..."

"Ilya, let me do it!"

Sam gestured for Ilya to stop and asked Chen Xiu, "Why did you ask about these three directions separately? Why not the others?" "It's just a habit."

"What habit?"

"User habits."

After two questions and two answers, Sam and Ilya were both successfully confused.

Before they could ask, Chen Xiu continued, "As early as last year's Internet Conference, AI was already identified as the mainstream development direction for the future. I believe that its development can refer to the development trajectory of the Internet."

"Skipping the transition from programming to graphics, the medium through which ordinary users of the internet should truly be using search engines, which is Google now. They are also developing AI, right?"

Sam and Ilya nodded in silence.

In terms of the current development of the AI ​​field, Google is at the forefront.

"Google will not give up its advantage in the search field. Their AI research and development direction is definitely based on this track. I think that AI chatbots can serve as a more accurate search engine."

"We've had similar discussions too..."

Sam spoke slowly, his attitude having softened considerably without him even realizing it.

Upon hearing that they were indeed researching ChatGPT, Chen Xiu pressed further, "Why not specialize in one area? According to Elon's description, you don't seem to have the resources to invest in multiple areas."

"This one……"

Ilya looked troubled, as if he had something difficult to say.

Sam was even more direct: "Our other founder, Wojciech Zalumba, is more optimistic about the general-purpose robot direction, and the AI ​​chat model is closer to To C in nature. This direction will inevitably face the choice of whether to charge users, which is inconsistent with the original intention of OpenAI."

Do you have a moral fastidiousness?

"what?"

"Why do you keep emphasizing the issue of profitability? If your products are excellent enough, users will naturally be willing to pay for them. If you don't have enough funding, how will you sustain your continued research and development?"

Upon hearing this, Sam and Ilya both lowered their heads and remained silent.

Chen Xiu's question directly points out the difficulties in the early development of Open AI.

According to Musk, OpenAI is actually a project he and his friends are working on to advance the future. It's an interest group of big names, and the research funding was pooled together by everyone.

However, no matter how talented they are, it's impossible for them to develop a project.

Regular programmers, algorithm engineers, technical architects... these are all positions that require spending money to recruit!
Founders like Musk, Sam, and Ilya are already financially independent, but their employees aren't; they still need to live on their salaries, and there's more than one company researching AI.

For the same position, OpenAI offered a monthly salary of $1, while Google next door directly asked for $3...

Ideals are only pursued by a minority of people; most people still need to eat.

Sam and Ilya are both highly intelligent people, so they couldn't possibly be unaware of this, but they just refuse to compromise.

The two exchanged a glance, and Sam said, "Show, OpenAI is a non-profit company, and that won't change..."

"What if most of the economic value generated is used for technology research and development and daily operations?"

Chen Xiu took a step back.

Seeing Sam and Ilya hesitate, he decisively said, "Let's assume a scenario: if, I mean if, I fund the establishment of a restricted for-profit Open AI LP, setting a profit cap, while allowing the company to legally absorb venture capital and employee stock ownership."

"Then, the non-profit company OpenAI Inc., which you are in charge of, will merge with OpenAI LP. Of course, you will have control of the company, and the LP will not interfere with anything. I will only be responsible for venture capital and attracting talent, and earning a limited profit. The rest can be used for research and development."

After all that buildup, Chen Xiu finally revealed the result she wanted at the right moment.

Musk's departure from OpenAI has shown him the bottom line of Sam and Ilya, so he never intended to take control of OpenAI.

Collaborating like a company, only earning profits and not participating in internal company affairs, is actually the safest and most secure approach.

This proposal only deepened the hesitation on Sam and Ilya's faces.

They hesitated for a while, looked at each other, but ultimately came to no conclusion.

"Xiu, we need to discuss the plan you mentioned. If possible, I'd like to talk to you again tomorrow."

Sam said earnestly that he owns a venture capital firm, so he understands Chen Xiu's proposal better.

However, OpenAI has other founders, and important matters must be discussed in conference calls.

Chen Xiu expressed her approval of the result: "Okay, I hope it can be earlier tomorrow, I have a date tonight."

"No problem, we'll have the results by noon tomorrow."

Sam stood up and extended his hand to Chen Xiu, his attitude completely different from when they first met.

Holding their hands, Chen Xiu smiled and said goodbye to the two.

Just as he turned to leave the coffee shop, wondering whether he should call Tian Xinwei down for dinner, his phone suddenly vibrated in his pocket.

Upon inspection, the incoming call notification was Tian Xinwei's contact name: Sichuan-Chongqing Tyrannosaurus Rex.

Chen Xiu answered the phone, put it to her ear, and said, "I was just about to call you. Do you want to come down for dinner?"

"Boss, I'm being followed! Help me!!!"

(End of this chapter)