Comment by throw_me_uwu
5 months ago
But does reputation work? Will people google "Matt Shumer scam", "HyperWrite scam", "OthersideAI scam", "Sahil Chaudhary scam", "Glaive AI scam" before using their products? He wasted everyone's time, but what's the downside for him? Lots of influencers did fraud, and they do just fine.
Sure, it's complicated. The core of the AI world right now isn't that large and in many ecosystems it's common for people to speak to each other behind the scenes and to learn about alleged incidents regarding individuals in the space. Such whispering can become an impediment for someone with a "name" in a space, even if not necessarily a full loss of their reputation or opportunities.
Except that bad PR is good PR. Trump proves this daily. Terry A Davis proved this in the context of tech (he coined the term "glowie" in its original racially charged usage in addition to temple OS). If Chris Chan ever learned to code to make the Sonichu game of their dreams, I'm sure that there would be a minor bidding war on their "talent"
Yeah, that can certainly be true! Those sorts of people really seem to lean into their quirky reputation, though. I'm not sure someone could do so well in an academic or engineering discipline and maintain a broad level of professional respect with that approach?
> Lots of influencers did fraud, and they do just fine.
Since the current created legal landscape does not punish fraudsters they keep doing it and succeeding. Same thing as society allowing people to fail upward.
This may sound harsh but it's true.
You could do shit things and still come out with people perceiving you as a "winner"; because you got money, status, whatever you wanted, e.g. Adam Neumann. This is "fine" because people want to associate themselves with winners.
Or, you could do pretty much the exact same thing but come out looking as an absolute loser; e.g. SBF, this guy, etc... This is terrible as people do not want to be associated with losers.
IMO, this guy's career is dead, forever.