DeepSeek Made Sam Altman Happy

Before, a few weeks ago, OpenAI was the undisputed king of AI and with that came the perceived luxury of controlling its future. OpenAI believed they dominated AI. And this luxury drove the mistaken belief of being able to slam shut Pandora's Box and likely triggered the Great Sam Altman Firing Debacle of 2023.

After Sam consolidated power in late 2023 I am certain that luxury feeling and hand wringing persisted. This would have added friction to Sam’s definition of the advancement of OpenAI. I am sure Sam considered it a problem to continue to deal with this friction, the complacency in believing you have a moat and thinking that they could take their time in their advancement.

Shakespeare hinted about how to solve this kind of problem. In Henry IV he wrote:
”Be it thy course to busy giddy minds
With foreign quarrels…”

This is the advice of a father king to his son and soon to be heir on how to fix a problem with popularity at home. You fix this problem by going to war abroad. Sam and OpenAI may have created a few skirmishes, but the balance of power was so asymmetrical that no other group could go to war. Until now.

DeepSeek gave Sam his war. In OpenAI he can now complete his consolidation of power, quell any discontent, get unwavering alignment, and use this as a rally cry. This same tactic applies to US industry and the US Government in getting alignment, funding, etc.

There are multiple leadership lessons in this. A skilled leader sees this disruption as an opportunity and will capitalize upon it. It now becomes an opportunity for both OpenAI and DeepSeek.

I just hope this “opportunity” doesn’t turn Human Kind into collateral damage.