I think OpenAI is in a really weak position here. There are essentially two positions you can be in: You can be the agile new startup that can break the rules and move fast. That's what OpenAI used to be. Or you can be the big incumbent who is going to use your enormous resources to crush your opposition. That's Google & Microsoft here. For Microsoft to say "We're going to tie you up in lawsuits about the way you trained this model" would be perfectly expected and they can use that strategy because at any given time they have 1,000 lawyers and lobbyists hanging around waiting to do exactly that. But OpenAI can't do that. They don't have Google or Microsoft's legal teams or lobbyists or distribution channels. SO whilst it's funny that OpenAI are kind of trying to go down this road, this isn't actually a strategy that is going to work for them, they're still a minnow and they're going to get distracted and slowed down by this.
They're trying to bark up a tree that might happen to be backed by the People's Republic of China. That's not their league, and even Microsoft would think twice before getting into that kind of kerfuffle.
They're also still deep in their loss-making phase, the whole "incumbent squashing upstarts" stance is a lot easier to pull off when you're settled and printing money
why not? if their product is “SOTA LLM” then they can’t just lay off r&d and coast. Years from now nobody is going to be paying for “that authentic gpt4 sound”. LLMs aren’t guitars.
> For Microsoft to say "We're going to tie you up in lawsuits about the way you trained this model" would be perfectly expected and they can use that strategy because at any given time they have 1,000 lawyers and lobbyists hanging around waiting to do exactly that. But OpenAI can't do that. They don't have Google or Microsoft's legal teams or lobbyists or distribution channels.
I think it's also hilarious that suppose they can do that then they will end up suppressing innovation within the US, and eager groups in China would just innovate without having to worry about this hostile landscape.
