INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
the OpenAI culture would surprise no one, but other observations combat some misconceptions about the company
(He could not be immediately reached for comment.)Fast growth: OpenAI grew from 1,000 to 3,000 people in the year he was there, he
It is the fastest-growing consumer product ever, and its competitors are also growing fast
how to communicate as a company, the reporting structures, how to ship product, how to manage and organize people, the hiring processes,
their ideas with little to no red tape
But that also means that multiple teams are duplicating efforts
from seasoned Google engineers who write code that can handle a billion users, to newly minted PhDs who do not
It feels very much like move-fast-and-break-things Meta in its early Facebook years, he observed
The company is also full of hires from Meta.French-Owen described how his senior team of around eight engineers, four researchers, two
designers, two go-to-market staff, and a product manager built and launched Codex in only seven weeks, start to finish, with almost no
sleep.But launching it was magic
Just by turning it on, they got users
This led to a culture of secrecy in an attempt to clamp down on leaks to the public
At the same time, the company watches X
If a post goes viral there, OpenAI will see it and, possibly, respond to it
medical advice to therapy.Governments are watching
Competitors are watching (and OpenAI is watching competitors in return)
