METR President Chris Painter argues that tech observers remain excessively deferential to fallible AI company CEOs

@ChrisPainterYup There is a natural mechanism in which people join the CEO cult and then become disillusioned

I’m wondering though if they’ll ever exit the model cult

@ChrisPainterYup reason 1 of many why I think founder/ceo comp should be w/in 1 OOM of regular employee comp

@ChrisPainterYup Really telling on yourself here

@horizontalescal Telling on myself as chill

@tszzl @ChrisPainterYup the word model was chosen carefully here

@ChrisPainterYup I worked directly under a former Google GM (had like 15 VP’s reporting to him) at a startup for a while. Was in calls all day with him and customers.

Nothing destroyed my perception of the capabilities of tech elites like that experience lol. Below average across the board.

@tszzl @ChrisPainterYup Meanwhile I wonder if people ever exit their series cults.

Look, I thought 5.1 was amazing. Undercooked safety stack, but hey, it was obviously modular and a patch could fix it- nope here have 5.2

I don't even know what 5.4 was like!

@ChrisPainterYup i prefer the zoo animal motif

@ChrisPainterYup its just celebrity worship

@ChrisPainterYup Mustafa Suleyman is tech's most over glorified treasurer/solid brand ambassador.

@ChrisPainterYup 100%

@ChrisPainterYup More like they’re just people with the credentials to raise capital, that were in the right market position

@tszzl @ChrisPainterYup CEO, guru, singer, isn't that the same?

@ChrisPainterYup That’s a lot of what being a great person of history is

@ChrisPainterYup +1

@ChrisPainterYup everyone you will ever meet is literally just a person

@tszzl @ChrisPainterYup do they have to. or maybe cult can be containment

@tszzl @ChrisPainterYup Not sure

@tszzl @ChrisPainterYup I’m so tired of Ai CEO worshipping, why can’t we return to a normal baseline where we simply see them exactly as they are?

@tszzl @ChrisPainterYup There is too much old human evolutionary baggage around deference to the local tribal chief for this not to happen. The CEO should be an ai agent-employee loop, anyway.