Comment by simonw
5 days ago
I think it's pretty counter-productive to default to not trusting anyone under any circumstances.
Having a "disclosures" page on a personal website is a pretty strong quality signal for me - it's inspired me to set a task to add my own.
As with all of these things, the trick is to establish credibility over time. I've been following Geoff for a few years. Given his previous work I think he has integrity and I'm ready to believe his disclosures page.
I get what your saying.
However we seem to live in a time where integrity is basically valued at zero or more commonly as something to "bank" so you can cash in for an enormous payoff when the time comes. I agree he seems authentic, therefore valuable. Which means an AI company can come and offer him 7-8 figures to build hype. I think its hard for people to truly grasp just how much money is flying around in hype cycles. Those numbers are not unrealistic. That's set for life money, not many are in a position to refuse that kind of wealth. (he lives in van, just saying)
I hope he is one of the few authentic people left but the world has left me jaded.
Secretly offering someone 7-8 figures to hype for you is a big business risk to take on.
If details of that deal leak, it's a big embarrassment for the company.
In the USA it is also illegal. There are substantial FTC fines to worry about. If it affects the stock price it could be classified as securities fraud (Matt Levine will happily tell you that "everything is securities fraud").
>If details of that deal leak, it's a big embarrassment for the company.
Intermediaries.
Also IMO the risk of someone whom is not already rich turning down that kinda money is so close to zero that it is effectively zero. No risk.
If everything is securities fraud then by that logic it would not be considered in making sketchy deals. Also as you double state, it only matters if the company is public anyway. Hmmm is openai public? Are any of the AI players besides MS,Oracle,Google? Short answer. No.
I'm not sure why with all the public unpunished criminal behavior we see nowadays you have such trouble believing that there really are lots of paid shills for such a hyped product.
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