[HN Gopher] Ask HN: What are the exact terms of the $10B Microso...
       ___________________________________________________________________
        
       Ask HN: What are the exact terms of the $10B Microsoft <> OpenAI
       deal?
        
       I have not found any good description of the deal yet. Are the
       terms public?
        
       Author : MrThoughtful
       Score  : 17 points
       Date   : 2023-04-09 19:23 UTC (3 hours ago)
        
       | ftxbro wrote:
       | From https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35367194
       | 
       | "I mean the conspiracy argument would be that the $10B isn't a
       | normal investment. It's a special government project investment
       | facilitated by OpenAI board member and former clandestine CIA
       | operative and cybersecurity executive Will Hurd through his role
       | on the board of trustees of In-Q-Tel the investment arm of the
       | CIA. It's funneled through Microsoft instead of through Google in
       | part because of Google's No-Military-AI pledge in 2018 demanded
       | by its employees, after which Microsoft took over its military
       | contracts including project Maven. The new special government
       | project, the Sydney project, is the most urgent and ambitious
       | since the project to develop nuclear weapons in the mid twentieth
       | century.
       | 
       | Of course I don't necessarily believe any of that but it can be
       | fun to think about."
        
         | JumpCrisscross wrote:
         | > _$10B isn 't a normal investment_
         | 
         | It's a few hundred million of cash and billions of Azure
         | credits.
         | 
         | > _I don 't necessarily believe any of that but it can be fun
         | to think about_
         | 
         | You're quoting yourself disabusing yourself of an argument
         | you're quoting yourself making.
        
       | ftxbro wrote:
       | [flagged]
        
         | [deleted]
        
         | [deleted]
        
       | ftxbro wrote:
       | One interesting thing is that my homie
       | https://news.ycombinator.com/user?id=ta08131942 made a throwaway
       | account ten days ago, like 'throwaway 08/13/1942' which is the
       | start date of the manhattan project and then he put only a single
       | detailed comment https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=35366484
       | relating OpenAI to the government/intelligence/military
        
         | SheinhardtWigCo wrote:
         | green username = new account
        
           | ftxbro wrote:
           | ooh that makes sense i didn't know it
        
         | sph wrote:
         | First you quote yourself mentioning this CIA conspiracy
         | elsewhere in this thread, then mention this green account, your
         | "homie", with the same conspiracy.
         | 
         | I'm not saying you're right or wrong, just it is obvious you
         | two are the same people, but I do not understand creating a
         | throwaway account and then doxing yourself 10 days later.
         | 
         | I guess you hoped the throwaway account felt more credible.
        
           | ftxbro wrote:
           | > just it is obvious you two are the same people
           | 
           | Well I'm not the same as them but I see how it looks that
           | way.
        
       | m348e912 wrote:
       | Lots of Azure credits
       | 
       | Here's a little insight:
       | 
       | https://techcrunch.com/2023/01/23/microsoft-invests-billions...
        
       | arthurcolle wrote:
       | My mother asked me a few days ago how to invest in ChatGPT. I
       | explained that it's probably the easiest expressed with some long
       | dated ITM calls on MSFT
       | 
       | Anyone know if MSFT actually has equity in OpenAI or if its just
       | a "mutual partnership" ?
        
         | JumpCrisscross wrote:
         | > _it 's probably the easiest expressed with some long dated
         | ITM calls on MSFT_
         | 
         | Just buy equity. No need to sidecar long vol in the middle of a
         | resolving banking crisis.
         | 
         | > _if MSFT actually has equity in OpenAI or if its just a
         | "mutual partnership"_
         | 
         | Yes, Microsoft are taking a significant stake in OpenAI. But
         | it's not equity, because OpenAI isn't a corporation.
         | (Partnership interests. Economically similar.)
        
         | NicoJuicy wrote:
         | It's a delicate one.
         | 
         | I would bet on Alphabet for the long term, the original
         | inventors of the paper, together with DeepMind.
         | 
         | But chatgpt like tech could have an effect on their advertising
         | income.
         | 
         | The question would be if it affects their advertising or if it
         | actually adds a service to sell to their pool.
         | 
         | If it adds a service to their pool, both Alphabet and Microsoft
         | could be winners. But it takes a huge amount of profits/revenue
         | for a service to have any affect on the stock price for both of
         | them.
         | 
         | Additionally, AWS and Meta won't stand by. We've all seen how
         | much Meta is prepared to fund Zucks vision and that's
         | transformers now.
         | 
         | They even released one before ChatGPT.
         | 
         | https://www.technologyreview.com/2022/11/18/1063487/meta-lar...
         | 
         | Additionally, besides the impact, it's possible that it's not
         | going to be as profitable as one would expect ( eg. because of
         | price pressure due to competition)
        
           | 908B64B197 wrote:
           | > I would bet on Alphabet for the long term, the original
           | inventors of the paper, together with DeepMind.
           | 
           | > But chatgpt like tech could have an effect on their
           | advertising income.
           | 
           | An AI response costs a lot more to serve than a search query.
           | 
           | Microsoft is integrating GPT into it's SaaS offerings (see
           | copilot), where it adds new features (and is gaining traction
           | for it's adds and search products). Meanwhile, for every GPT
           | query served by Google, it costs them significantly more and
           | can't be monetized right now with adds.
        
           | jerrygenser wrote:
           | There's been a brain drain from alphabet, why do you bet
           | despite this?
        
             | rvnx wrote:
             | Most of the people from the original Transformers left
             | Google as far as I know, (including for OpenAI), so...
             | 
             | NicoJuicy: Have you ever tried Bard, the "ChatGPT-Killer"
             | (English-only btw) ?
        
           | spaceman_2020 wrote:
           | I can't bet on Alphabet with the current leadership. You
           | either need a visionary CEO or the original founders to have
           | the courage to gut your entire revenue stream (ads) in
           | pursuit of a new tech.
           | 
           | Pichai is not that guy.
        
         | user_named wrote:
         | Wouldn't buying the MSFT stock be easier?
        
         | m348e912 wrote:
         | Before thinking about investing in AI, it might be worth
         | watching the all in podcast from last week (not the most recent
         | one) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQ544sWC8ZQ
         | 
         | I am not saying the hosts are right about everything but they
         | made a point that the first to the market may not be the
         | eventual winner and provided some examples of how revolutionary
         | ideas such as a cell phone/smart phone were iterated several
         | times before major leaders broke away.
         | 
         | The same can be seen with search and other technologies.
        
           | fswd wrote:
           | this was reeeaaallly f good. Thanks
        
           | inconceivable wrote:
           | right, but was openai "first to market"? google and amazon
           | have had AI offerings for a while now.
        
             | tough wrote:
             | Was apple ever first to market anything?
        
       ___________________________________________________________________
       (page generated 2023-04-09 23:01 UTC)