I suspect the signers were a combination of wanting to follow their comp out the door and a bit of Tom Wambsgans from Succession: "Because I've seen you get fucked a lot, and I've never seen Logan [in this case Sam] get fucked once."
There's very little risk in signing if everything falls apart, but there's a lot of risk to not signing if Sam comes back on as lead.
> I find it hard to believe
I also find it hard to believe that anyone on HN interested in this space doesn't at least have a "friend of a friend" who works at OpenAI. Based on what I've heard (which is nothing particularly quotable), it certainly gives off the vibe of being exactly that "kind of environment"
It’s not exactly a secret. The company structure was a setup that allowed a high degree of internal alignment (at a level of a cult, it seems). And at some point there was a need to realign with making a lot of cash. This resulted in an alignment on this goal, and of course everyone who is in on it is supporting Sam Altman’s moves.
There's very little risk in signing if everything falls apart, but there's a lot of risk to not signing if Sam comes back on as lead.
> I find it hard to believe
I also find it hard to believe that anyone on HN interested in this space doesn't at least have a "friend of a friend" who works at OpenAI. Based on what I've heard (which is nothing particularly quotable), it certainly gives off the vibe of being exactly that "kind of environment"