Comment by psd1
6 days ago
He is a leader and a political figure. This blogpost is political (as well as sharing a family photo, which is itself imbued with a political message in that context).
Engineer archetypes hate politics and refuse to think about it. For most engineering, there is negligible political dimension. But culturally-transformative technology is inherently political to the degree it's transformative. Altman recognises this.
He is working towards a social goal, and attracting support to achieve it. Yes, he is a political leader.
This waters down the definition of political leader to the point of absurdity.
He's rich, connected at the highest levels, works with the US govt and specifically the military. Able to have a relatively high political influence (on the workforce at the very least). How is he not actively a political figure?
Because words have meaning, and that’s not what political leader has ever meant?
But sure, go ahead and define it however you want.