Anthropic News: What's Going On?

The Altman Firing Debacle: A Comedy of Errors

So, OpenAI almost merged with Anthropic after they briefly gave Sam Altman the boot? Let's be real, that's not some strategic masterstroke; it's the equivalent of rearranging deck chairs on the Titanic. Sutskever, bless his heart, said he was "very unhappy" about it. You think? Imagine the chaos of trying to merge two AI companies already drowning in hype and venture capital. According to court documents, OpenAI debated merging with one of its biggest rivals after firing Sam Altman, OpenAI debated merging with one of its biggest rivals after firing Sam Altman, court docs reveal.

And Toner was "most supportive"? Color me shocked. I'm sure there were totally no ulterior motives there. What were they even thinking? That combining two flawed entities would magically create a perfect one? It's like mixing two different shades of brown and expecting gold.

The whole thing smacks of panic. The board probably thought, "Oh crap, we screwed up. Quick, someone call Anthropic!" It’s the kind of move you make when you realize you've jumped out of a plane without a parachute and are desperately grabbing for anything on the way down.

Sutskever's Deposition: The Gift That Keeps on Giving

This whole Elon Musk lawsuit is turning into a goldmine of embarrassing revelations for OpenAI. Sutskever's deposition alone is worth the price of admission. He's basically spilling the tea on everything, from the Anthropic merger talks to the "Brockman memo."

And he has to sit for another deposition? You just know Musk's lawyers are salivating at the chance to grill him some more. I can practically hear the popcorn popping in Silicon Valley.

But here's the thing: why is all this coming out now? Is it just the natural course of litigation, or is there something else going on behind the scenes? Are people trying to settle scores, or are they genuinely concerned about OpenAI's direction?

Then again, maybe I'm just being cynical. Maybe everyone involved is acting in good faith, and this is all just a big misunderstanding. Nah, who am I kidding? This is Silicon Valley. Good faith is about as common as a humble billionaire.

Forward-Deployed Engineers: The New AI Sherpas

Oh, and while we're at it, let's talk about these "forward-deployed engineers" that AI companies are supposedly clamoring for. Apparently, they're the key to unlocking LLMs and figuring out what customers really need. Give me a break. According to the Times of India, OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI companies are looking to hire this 'rare' kind of software engineers.

It's just a fancy term for consultants, right? Companies are "embedding engineers" to "ensure customers get exactly what they need?" Sounds an awful lot like "we're charging you exorbitant fees to tell you what you already know."

“We learn what customers in different industries really need, we experiment and innovate together, and then those insights help advance OpenAI’s research and product offerings based on what works in the real world.”

Translation: "We're using your company as a guinea pig to improve our AI models and then selling those improvements to your competitors."

Look, I get it. AI is complicated, and companies need help figuring out how to use it. But let's not pretend that these "forward-deployed engineers" are some kind of rare and valuable species. They're just people who know how to talk the talk and charge a premium for it.

This Whole Thing is a Clown Show