The Open AI/Sam Altman saga seems to have died down for the most part – at least for now.
This was another case where a TV script writer couldn’t have written a more dramatic story than what actually unfolded in the real world.
Tech is increasingly becoming dramatic, and when drama happens in tech, it’s often very extreme – FTX, Theranos, the planned Musk/Zuck octagon fight, you name them. At this point someone might set up a storytelling company specifically focused on eccentric tech characters.
One might wonder why this is the case. Obviously, tech is big – it’s the main industry of today’s world (7 of top 10 market cap companies are internet/tech companies).
But I think a part of this could also be attributed to the EQ/IQ mismatch of some tech founders. I’ve seen my share of tech founders who are wicked smart but also walking a very fine line where just one step to the other direction would officially make them a sociopath.
In many cases, these were more or less harmless, eye roll moments (“Wow, can you believe that guy?”); in some other cases though, these were more serious. After seeing some humans being able to completely operate under their own logic, showing absolute lack of human empathy, you get to question a lot of things.
We need more EQ/IQ balance in the tech industry. One thing that would be helpful is to have more women. At least from my own experience, nearly all of these EQ/IQ mismatch founders that I met were men.