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‘I was being ritually tortured’: the most shocking moments in Britney Spears’ memoir
The women at AA inspire her to start trying to take control over her life but she just hits more walls. Her father won’t let her remove her IUD to start a family with her new boyfriend, later husband, Sam Ashgari (they have divorced since Britney completed the memoir). After she objects to a new dance move suggested for her Vegas residency, she is sent to a solitary rehabilitation facility for two months, the most upsetting part of the book.
Was I a bank robber? A wild animal? Why was I treated as though I were about to burn the place down and murder them all?
She is locked up, put on lithium, subject to relentless testing and mandatory therapy, can’t see her kids or dog, can’t bathe or dress in private or shut the door to her room, has set bed and waking times. For blood tests, “the tech drawing my blood would be flanked by the nurse, a security guard and my assistant. Was I a cannibal?
|
3701
|
‘I was being ritually tortured’: the most shocking moments in Britney Spears’ memoir
Her father won’t let her remove her IUD to start a family with her new boyfriend, later husband, Sam Ashgari (they have divorced since Britney completed the memoir). After she objects to a new dance move suggested for her Vegas residency, she is sent to a solitary rehabilitation facility for two months, the most upsetting part of the book.
Was I a bank robber? A wild animal? Why was I treated as though I were about to burn the place down and murder them all?
She is locked up, put on lithium, subject to relentless testing and mandatory therapy, can’t see her kids or dog, can’t bathe or dress in private or shut the door to her room, has set bed and waking times. For blood tests, “the tech drawing my blood would be flanked by the nurse, a security guard and my assistant. Was I a cannibal? Was I a bank robber? Was I a wild animal?
|
3702
|
‘I was being ritually tortured’: the most shocking moments in Britney Spears’ memoir
Her father won’t let her remove her IUD to start a family with her new boyfriend, later husband, Sam Ashgari (they have divorced since Britney completed the memoir). After she objects to a new dance move suggested for her Vegas residency, she is sent to a solitary rehabilitation facility for two months, the most upsetting part of the book.
Was I a bank robber? A wild animal? Why was I treated as though I were about to burn the place down and murder them all?
She is locked up, put on lithium, subject to relentless testing and mandatory therapy, can’t see her kids or dog, can’t bathe or dress in private or shut the door to her room, has set bed and waking times. For blood tests, “the tech drawing my blood would be flanked by the nurse, a security guard and my assistant. Was I a cannibal? Was I a bank robber? Was I a wild animal? Why was I treated as though I were about to burn the place down and murder them all?” She wonders if her family is trying to kill her.
|
3703
|
‘I was being ritually tortured’: the most shocking moments in Britney Spears’ memoir
After she objects to a new dance move suggested for her Vegas residency, she is sent to a solitary rehabilitation facility for two months, the most upsetting part of the book.
Was I a bank robber? A wild animal? Why was I treated as though I were about to burn the place down and murder them all?
She is locked up, put on lithium, subject to relentless testing and mandatory therapy, can’t see her kids or dog, can’t bathe or dress in private or shut the door to her room, has set bed and waking times. For blood tests, “the tech drawing my blood would be flanked by the nurse, a security guard and my assistant. Was I a cannibal? Was I a bank robber? Was I a wild animal? Why was I treated as though I were about to burn the place down and murder them all?” She wonders if her family is trying to kill her. Made slow and sclerotic, “I began to feel like I was being ritually tortured,” she writes, feeling estranged from her own body.
|
3704
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‘I was being ritually tortured’: the most shocking moments in Britney Spears’ memoir
Was I a bank robber? A wild animal? Why was I treated as though I were about to burn the place down and murder them all?
She is locked up, put on lithium, subject to relentless testing and mandatory therapy, can’t see her kids or dog, can’t bathe or dress in private or shut the door to her room, has set bed and waking times. For blood tests, “the tech drawing my blood would be flanked by the nurse, a security guard and my assistant. Was I a cannibal? Was I a bank robber? Was I a wild animal? Why was I treated as though I were about to burn the place down and murder them all?” She wonders if her family is trying to kill her. Made slow and sclerotic, “I began to feel like I was being ritually tortured,” she writes, feeling estranged from her own body. “If the idea of my being in that place was to heal, that was not the effect.”
She’s not scared of anything after that experience, she writes, “but it doesn’t make me feel strong; it makes me sad.
|
3705
|
‘I was being ritually tortured’: the most shocking moments in Britney Spears’ memoir
For blood tests, “the tech drawing my blood would be flanked by the nurse, a security guard and my assistant. Was I a cannibal? Was I a bank robber? Was I a wild animal? Why was I treated as though I were about to burn the place down and murder them all?” She wonders if her family is trying to kill her. Made slow and sclerotic, “I began to feel like I was being ritually tortured,” she writes, feeling estranged from her own body. “If the idea of my being in that place was to heal, that was not the effect.”
She’s not scared of anything after that experience, she writes, “but it doesn’t make me feel strong; it makes me sad. I shouldn’t be this strong.”
#FreeBritney protesters in 2021.
|
3706
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‘I was being ritually tortured’: the most shocking moments in Britney Spears’ memoir
For blood tests, “the tech drawing my blood would be flanked by the nurse, a security guard and my assistant. Was I a cannibal? Was I a bank robber? Was I a wild animal? Why was I treated as though I were about to burn the place down and murder them all?” She wonders if her family is trying to kill her. Made slow and sclerotic, “I began to feel like I was being ritually tortured,” she writes, feeling estranged from her own body. “If the idea of my being in that place was to heal, that was not the effect.”
She’s not scared of anything after that experience, she writes, “but it doesn’t make me feel strong; it makes me sad. I shouldn’t be this strong.”
#FreeBritney protesters in 2021. Photograph: Étienne Laurent/EPA
A nurse shows Britney the blossoming fan movement that is spreading awareness of its suspicions that all is not right with her conservatorship.
|
3707
|
‘I was being ritually tortured’: the most shocking moments in Britney Spears’ memoir
Was I a cannibal? Was I a bank robber? Was I a wild animal? Why was I treated as though I were about to burn the place down and murder them all?” She wonders if her family is trying to kill her. Made slow and sclerotic, “I began to feel like I was being ritually tortured,” she writes, feeling estranged from her own body. “If the idea of my being in that place was to heal, that was not the effect.”
She’s not scared of anything after that experience, she writes, “but it doesn’t make me feel strong; it makes me sad. I shouldn’t be this strong.”
#FreeBritney protesters in 2021. Photograph: Étienne Laurent/EPA
A nurse shows Britney the blossoming fan movement that is spreading awareness of its suspicions that all is not right with her conservatorship. Come June 2021, she calls 911 to report her father for conservatorship abuse days before a probate court hearing on the arrangement.
|
3708
|
‘I was being ritually tortured’: the most shocking moments in Britney Spears’ memoir
Why was I treated as though I were about to burn the place down and murder them all?” She wonders if her family is trying to kill her. Made slow and sclerotic, “I began to feel like I was being ritually tortured,” she writes, feeling estranged from her own body. “If the idea of my being in that place was to heal, that was not the effect.”
She’s not scared of anything after that experience, she writes, “but it doesn’t make me feel strong; it makes me sad. I shouldn’t be this strong.”
#FreeBritney protesters in 2021. Photograph: Étienne Laurent/EPA
A nurse shows Britney the blossoming fan movement that is spreading awareness of its suspicions that all is not right with her conservatorship. Come June 2021, she calls 911 to report her father for conservatorship abuse days before a probate court hearing on the arrangement. “My voice had been used for me and against me so many times that I was afraid nobody would recognise it now if I spoke freely,” she writes.
|
3709
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‘I was being ritually tortured’: the most shocking moments in Britney Spears’ memoir
Made slow and sclerotic, “I began to feel like I was being ritually tortured,” she writes, feeling estranged from her own body. “If the idea of my being in that place was to heal, that was not the effect.”
She’s not scared of anything after that experience, she writes, “but it doesn’t make me feel strong; it makes me sad. I shouldn’t be this strong.”
#FreeBritney protesters in 2021. Photograph: Étienne Laurent/EPA
A nurse shows Britney the blossoming fan movement that is spreading awareness of its suspicions that all is not right with her conservatorship. Come June 2021, she calls 911 to report her father for conservatorship abuse days before a probate court hearing on the arrangement. “My voice had been used for me and against me so many times that I was afraid nobody would recognise it now if I spoke freely,” she writes. When she is granted her freedom in November 2021, she says she feels shock, relief, elation, sadness and joy.
|
3710
|
‘I was being ritually tortured’: the most shocking moments in Britney Spears’ memoir
“If the idea of my being in that place was to heal, that was not the effect.”
She’s not scared of anything after that experience, she writes, “but it doesn’t make me feel strong; it makes me sad. I shouldn’t be this strong.”
#FreeBritney protesters in 2021. Photograph: Étienne Laurent/EPA
A nurse shows Britney the blossoming fan movement that is spreading awareness of its suspicions that all is not right with her conservatorship. Come June 2021, she calls 911 to report her father for conservatorship abuse days before a probate court hearing on the arrangement. “My voice had been used for me and against me so many times that I was afraid nobody would recognise it now if I spoke freely,” she writes. When she is granted her freedom in November 2021, she says she feels shock, relief, elation, sadness and joy.
There is no love lost for her family
Britney writes about how she was always made to feel she was not enough as a kid; her father’s alleged alcoholism, neglect and brutal standards; how her mother always made her feel less-than.
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3711
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‘I was being ritually tortured’: the most shocking moments in Britney Spears’ memoir
I shouldn’t be this strong.”
#FreeBritney protesters in 2021. Photograph: Étienne Laurent/EPA
A nurse shows Britney the blossoming fan movement that is spreading awareness of its suspicions that all is not right with her conservatorship. Come June 2021, she calls 911 to report her father for conservatorship abuse days before a probate court hearing on the arrangement. “My voice had been used for me and against me so many times that I was afraid nobody would recognise it now if I spoke freely,” she writes. When she is granted her freedom in November 2021, she says she feels shock, relief, elation, sadness and joy.
There is no love lost for her family
Britney writes about how she was always made to feel she was not enough as a kid; her father’s alleged alcoholism, neglect and brutal standards; how her mother always made her feel less-than. She is unsparing about her younger sister, who she characterises as a brat who was spared the pain of Britney’s impoverished childhood because of her success.
|
3712
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‘I was being ritually tortured’: the most shocking moments in Britney Spears’ memoir
Come June 2021, she calls 911 to report her father for conservatorship abuse days before a probate court hearing on the arrangement. “My voice had been used for me and against me so many times that I was afraid nobody would recognise it now if I spoke freely,” she writes. When she is granted her freedom in November 2021, she says she feels shock, relief, elation, sadness and joy.
There is no love lost for her family
Britney writes about how she was always made to feel she was not enough as a kid; her father’s alleged alcoholism, neglect and brutal standards; how her mother always made her feel less-than. She is unsparing about her younger sister, who she characterises as a brat who was spared the pain of Britney’s impoverished childhood because of her success. “My mom and I had to witness the ugliness and the violence without believing that there was anywhere else to go.”
Even once Britney is the biggest pop star in the world, her parents still seem to have an undue say in the running of her career, including making her sit for humiliating TV interviews – why exactly that is remains unanswered.
|
3713
|
‘I was being ritually tortured’: the most shocking moments in Britney Spears’ memoir
When she is granted her freedom in November 2021, she says she feels shock, relief, elation, sadness and joy.
There is no love lost for her family
Britney writes about how she was always made to feel she was not enough as a kid; her father’s alleged alcoholism, neglect and brutal standards; how her mother always made her feel less-than. She is unsparing about her younger sister, who she characterises as a brat who was spared the pain of Britney’s impoverished childhood because of her success. “My mom and I had to witness the ugliness and the violence without believing that there was anywhere else to go.”
Even once Britney is the biggest pop star in the world, her parents still seem to have an undue say in the running of her career, including making her sit for humiliating TV interviews – why exactly that is remains unanswered. Her father seizes control legally with the imposition of the conservatorship, telling her, chillingly, “I am Britney Spears now,” and her family appear to live off her dime while she lives an extraordinarily restricted life.
|
3714
|
‘I was being ritually tortured’: the most shocking moments in Britney Spears’ memoir
There is no love lost for her family
Britney writes about how she was always made to feel she was not enough as a kid; her father’s alleged alcoholism, neglect and brutal standards; how her mother always made her feel less-than. She is unsparing about her younger sister, who she characterises as a brat who was spared the pain of Britney’s impoverished childhood because of her success. “My mom and I had to witness the ugliness and the violence without believing that there was anywhere else to go.”
Even once Britney is the biggest pop star in the world, her parents still seem to have an undue say in the running of her career, including making her sit for humiliating TV interviews – why exactly that is remains unanswered. Her father seizes control legally with the imposition of the conservatorship, telling her, chillingly, “I am Britney Spears now,” and her family appear to live off her dime while she lives an extraordinarily restricted life.
When she returns home from the forced stint in a brutal rehab facility, she finds that her parents have thrown away her childhood things, including a binder full of her poetry.
|
3715
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‘I was being ritually tortured’: the most shocking moments in Britney Spears’ memoir
She is unsparing about her younger sister, who she characterises as a brat who was spared the pain of Britney’s impoverished childhood because of her success. “My mom and I had to witness the ugliness and the violence without believing that there was anywhere else to go.”
Even once Britney is the biggest pop star in the world, her parents still seem to have an undue say in the running of her career, including making her sit for humiliating TV interviews – why exactly that is remains unanswered. Her father seizes control legally with the imposition of the conservatorship, telling her, chillingly, “I am Britney Spears now,” and her family appear to live off her dime while she lives an extraordinarily restricted life.
When she returns home from the forced stint in a brutal rehab facility, she finds that her parents have thrown away her childhood things, including a binder full of her poetry. “I felt an overwhelming sadness. I thought of the pages I’d written through tears.
|
3716
|
‘I was being ritually tortured’: the most shocking moments in Britney Spears’ memoir
“My mom and I had to witness the ugliness and the violence without believing that there was anywhere else to go.”
Even once Britney is the biggest pop star in the world, her parents still seem to have an undue say in the running of her career, including making her sit for humiliating TV interviews – why exactly that is remains unanswered. Her father seizes control legally with the imposition of the conservatorship, telling her, chillingly, “I am Britney Spears now,” and her family appear to live off her dime while she lives an extraordinarily restricted life.
When she returns home from the forced stint in a brutal rehab facility, she finds that her parents have thrown away her childhood things, including a binder full of her poetry. “I felt an overwhelming sadness. I thought of the pages I’d written through tears. I never wanted to publish them or anything like that, but they were important to me.
|
3717
|
‘I was being ritually tortured’: the most shocking moments in Britney Spears’ memoir
“My mom and I had to witness the ugliness and the violence without believing that there was anywhere else to go.”
Even once Britney is the biggest pop star in the world, her parents still seem to have an undue say in the running of her career, including making her sit for humiliating TV interviews – why exactly that is remains unanswered. Her father seizes control legally with the imposition of the conservatorship, telling her, chillingly, “I am Britney Spears now,” and her family appear to live off her dime while she lives an extraordinarily restricted life.
When she returns home from the forced stint in a brutal rehab facility, she finds that her parents have thrown away her childhood things, including a binder full of her poetry. “I felt an overwhelming sadness. I thought of the pages I’d written through tears. I never wanted to publish them or anything like that, but they were important to me. And my family had thrown them in the trash, just like they’d thrown me away.” She resolves to start over with a new notebook.
|
3718
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‘I was being ritually tortured’: the most shocking moments in Britney Spears’ memoir
Her father seizes control legally with the imposition of the conservatorship, telling her, chillingly, “I am Britney Spears now,” and her family appear to live off her dime while she lives an extraordinarily restricted life.
When she returns home from the forced stint in a brutal rehab facility, she finds that her parents have thrown away her childhood things, including a binder full of her poetry. “I felt an overwhelming sadness. I thought of the pages I’d written through tears. I never wanted to publish them or anything like that, but they were important to me. And my family had thrown them in the trash, just like they’d thrown me away.” She resolves to start over with a new notebook. “In that moment I made peace with my family,” she writes. “By which I mean that I realised I never wanted to see them again, and I was at peace with that.”
Britney writes that she is working to feel “more compassion than anger” towards them. “It’s not easy.”
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3719
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
It is honestly kind of incredible to watch a man torpedo his own credibility on direct testimony. We’re not even at the cross yet, and the judge has already instructed him to answer the question he’s being asked by his own lawyer.
The jury is watching all of this intently.
The main thing that’s been clear so far from Bankman-Fried’s testimony is that the man really loves the sound of his own voice. So far, the count of “Objection, narrative!” to Bankman-Fried’s answers, followed by “Sustained” is at three.
Also, sometimes when Bankman-Fried says “we,” he only means himself.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has been found guilty on seven counts including charges of wire fraud. FTX was a fraud “from the start,” the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged — with a “multi-billion-dollar deficiency caused by his own misappropriation of customer funds.” Follow along for all the latest news and regular updates from the trial.
|
3720
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
We’re not even at the cross yet, and the judge has already instructed him to answer the question he’s being asked by his own lawyer.
The jury is watching all of this intently.
The main thing that’s been clear so far from Bankman-Fried’s testimony is that the man really loves the sound of his own voice. So far, the count of “Objection, narrative!” to Bankman-Fried’s answers, followed by “Sustained” is at three.
Also, sometimes when Bankman-Fried says “we,” he only means himself.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has been found guilty on seven counts including charges of wire fraud. FTX was a fraud “from the start,” the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged — with a “multi-billion-dollar deficiency caused by his own misappropriation of customer funds.” Follow along for all the latest news and regular updates from the trial.
Yesterday, during an evidentiary hearing, Bankman-Fried was repeatedly scolded by Judge Lewis Kaplan for not answering prosecutor Danielle Sassoon’s questions on cross-examination.
|
3721
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
The main thing that’s been clear so far from Bankman-Fried’s testimony is that the man really loves the sound of his own voice. So far, the count of “Objection, narrative!” to Bankman-Fried’s answers, followed by “Sustained” is at three.
Also, sometimes when Bankman-Fried says “we,” he only means himself.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has been found guilty on seven counts including charges of wire fraud. FTX was a fraud “from the start,” the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged — with a “multi-billion-dollar deficiency caused by his own misappropriation of customer funds.” Follow along for all the latest news and regular updates from the trial.
Yesterday, during an evidentiary hearing, Bankman-Fried was repeatedly scolded by Judge Lewis Kaplan for not answering prosecutor Danielle Sassoon’s questions on cross-examination. Today, Bankman-Fried was scolded by Kaplan for not answering his counsel Mark Cohen’s questions on direct examination.
|
3722
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
So far, the count of “Objection, narrative!” to Bankman-Fried’s answers, followed by “Sustained” is at three.
Also, sometimes when Bankman-Fried says “we,” he only means himself.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has been found guilty on seven counts including charges of wire fraud. FTX was a fraud “from the start,” the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged — with a “multi-billion-dollar deficiency caused by his own misappropriation of customer funds.” Follow along for all the latest news and regular updates from the trial.
Yesterday, during an evidentiary hearing, Bankman-Fried was repeatedly scolded by Judge Lewis Kaplan for not answering prosecutor Danielle Sassoon’s questions on cross-examination. Today, Bankman-Fried was scolded by Kaplan for not answering his counsel Mark Cohen’s questions on direct examination. Bankman-Fried has also occasionally interrupted Cohen with “yes” and “yup.”
We spent a lot of the morning explaining vocabulary.
|
3723
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
Also, sometimes when Bankman-Fried says “we,” he only means himself.
Sam Bankman-Fried, the founder of failed cryptocurrency exchange FTX, has been found guilty on seven counts including charges of wire fraud. FTX was a fraud “from the start,” the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged — with a “multi-billion-dollar deficiency caused by his own misappropriation of customer funds.” Follow along for all the latest news and regular updates from the trial.
Yesterday, during an evidentiary hearing, Bankman-Fried was repeatedly scolded by Judge Lewis Kaplan for not answering prosecutor Danielle Sassoon’s questions on cross-examination. Today, Bankman-Fried was scolded by Kaplan for not answering his counsel Mark Cohen’s questions on direct examination. Bankman-Fried has also occasionally interrupted Cohen with “yes” and “yup.”
We spent a lot of the morning explaining vocabulary. I will spare you the full list, though I will say that explaining “Amazon Web Services” and “database” was a bit too detail-oriented.
|
3724
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
FTX was a fraud “from the start,” the Securities and Exchange Commission alleged — with a “multi-billion-dollar deficiency caused by his own misappropriation of customer funds.” Follow along for all the latest news and regular updates from the trial.
Yesterday, during an evidentiary hearing, Bankman-Fried was repeatedly scolded by Judge Lewis Kaplan for not answering prosecutor Danielle Sassoon’s questions on cross-examination. Today, Bankman-Fried was scolded by Kaplan for not answering his counsel Mark Cohen’s questions on direct examination. Bankman-Fried has also occasionally interrupted Cohen with “yes” and “yup.”
We spent a lot of the morning explaining vocabulary. I will spare you the full list, though I will say that explaining “Amazon Web Services” and “database” was a bit too detail-oriented. Then Bankman-Fried tried to define “market manipulation.” After Bankman-Fried gave his definition, Kaplan told the jury that he was the final authority on that, thanks.
|
3725
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
Yesterday, during an evidentiary hearing, Bankman-Fried was repeatedly scolded by Judge Lewis Kaplan for not answering prosecutor Danielle Sassoon’s questions on cross-examination. Today, Bankman-Fried was scolded by Kaplan for not answering his counsel Mark Cohen’s questions on direct examination. Bankman-Fried has also occasionally interrupted Cohen with “yes” and “yup.”
We spent a lot of the morning explaining vocabulary. I will spare you the full list, though I will say that explaining “Amazon Web Services” and “database” was a bit too detail-oriented. Then Bankman-Fried tried to define “market manipulation.” After Bankman-Fried gave his definition, Kaplan told the jury that he was the final authority on that, thanks.
In fairness to Bankman-Fried, he has been clearer and much easier to understand than he was at the evidentiary hearing yesterday. There was a minimum of word salad today.
|
3726
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
Yesterday, during an evidentiary hearing, Bankman-Fried was repeatedly scolded by Judge Lewis Kaplan for not answering prosecutor Danielle Sassoon’s questions on cross-examination. Today, Bankman-Fried was scolded by Kaplan for not answering his counsel Mark Cohen’s questions on direct examination. Bankman-Fried has also occasionally interrupted Cohen with “yes” and “yup.”
We spent a lot of the morning explaining vocabulary. I will spare you the full list, though I will say that explaining “Amazon Web Services” and “database” was a bit too detail-oriented. Then Bankman-Fried tried to define “market manipulation.” After Bankman-Fried gave his definition, Kaplan told the jury that he was the final authority on that, thanks.
In fairness to Bankman-Fried, he has been clearer and much easier to understand than he was at the evidentiary hearing yesterday. There was a minimum of word salad today. I don’t know if he was more relaxed, or he’d just been more rehearsed, but I will certainly be watching to see if he suddenly becomes much less coherent when Sassoon gets him for the cross.
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3727
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
Bankman-Fried has also occasionally interrupted Cohen with “yes” and “yup.”
We spent a lot of the morning explaining vocabulary. I will spare you the full list, though I will say that explaining “Amazon Web Services” and “database” was a bit too detail-oriented. Then Bankman-Fried tried to define “market manipulation.” After Bankman-Fried gave his definition, Kaplan told the jury that he was the final authority on that, thanks.
In fairness to Bankman-Fried, he has been clearer and much easier to understand than he was at the evidentiary hearing yesterday. There was a minimum of word salad today. I don’t know if he was more relaxed, or he’d just been more rehearsed, but I will certainly be watching to see if he suddenly becomes much less coherent when Sassoon gets him for the cross.
Here is the story of FTX, from his point of view.
|
3728
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
Bankman-Fried has also occasionally interrupted Cohen with “yes” and “yup.”
We spent a lot of the morning explaining vocabulary. I will spare you the full list, though I will say that explaining “Amazon Web Services” and “database” was a bit too detail-oriented. Then Bankman-Fried tried to define “market manipulation.” After Bankman-Fried gave his definition, Kaplan told the jury that he was the final authority on that, thanks.
In fairness to Bankman-Fried, he has been clearer and much easier to understand than he was at the evidentiary hearing yesterday. There was a minimum of word salad today. I don’t know if he was more relaxed, or he’d just been more rehearsed, but I will certainly be watching to see if he suddenly becomes much less coherent when Sassoon gets him for the cross.
Here is the story of FTX, from his point of view.
Bankman-Fried, who informed us he’s “somewhat introverted, naturally,” gave us a rather prolonged tour of his pre-Alameda Research life, which I will skip.
|
3729
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
Then Bankman-Fried tried to define “market manipulation.” After Bankman-Fried gave his definition, Kaplan told the jury that he was the final authority on that, thanks.
In fairness to Bankman-Fried, he has been clearer and much easier to understand than he was at the evidentiary hearing yesterday. There was a minimum of word salad today. I don’t know if he was more relaxed, or he’d just been more rehearsed, but I will certainly be watching to see if he suddenly becomes much less coherent when Sassoon gets him for the cross.
Here is the story of FTX, from his point of view.
Bankman-Fried, who informed us he’s “somewhat introverted, naturally,” gave us a rather prolonged tour of his pre-Alameda Research life, which I will skip. In 2017, during a crypto bull run, he started his cryptocurrency trading firm. He knew “basically nothing” about cryptocurrency at the time, he explained, but he wanted to do arbitrage on it anyway.
|
3730
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
In fairness to Bankman-Fried, he has been clearer and much easier to understand than he was at the evidentiary hearing yesterday. There was a minimum of word salad today. I don’t know if he was more relaxed, or he’d just been more rehearsed, but I will certainly be watching to see if he suddenly becomes much less coherent when Sassoon gets him for the cross.
Here is the story of FTX, from his point of view.
Bankman-Fried, who informed us he’s “somewhat introverted, naturally,” gave us a rather prolonged tour of his pre-Alameda Research life, which I will skip. In 2017, during a crypto bull run, he started his cryptocurrency trading firm. He knew “basically nothing” about cryptocurrency at the time, he explained, but he wanted to do arbitrage on it anyway.
Alameda Research was named for Alameda County in California, which was where its first office was set up.
|
3731
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
There was a minimum of word salad today. I don’t know if he was more relaxed, or he’d just been more rehearsed, but I will certainly be watching to see if he suddenly becomes much less coherent when Sassoon gets him for the cross.
Here is the story of FTX, from his point of view.
Bankman-Fried, who informed us he’s “somewhat introverted, naturally,” gave us a rather prolonged tour of his pre-Alameda Research life, which I will skip. In 2017, during a crypto bull run, he started his cryptocurrency trading firm. He knew “basically nothing” about cryptocurrency at the time, he explained, but he wanted to do arbitrage on it anyway.
Alameda Research was named for Alameda County in California, which was where its first office was set up. As for its name, here’s what Bankman-Fried said on the stand:
Effectively, we wanted to be under the radar at that point in time.
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3732
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
I don’t know if he was more relaxed, or he’d just been more rehearsed, but I will certainly be watching to see if he suddenly becomes much less coherent when Sassoon gets him for the cross.
Here is the story of FTX, from his point of view.
Bankman-Fried, who informed us he’s “somewhat introverted, naturally,” gave us a rather prolonged tour of his pre-Alameda Research life, which I will skip. In 2017, during a crypto bull run, he started his cryptocurrency trading firm. He knew “basically nothing” about cryptocurrency at the time, he explained, but he wanted to do arbitrage on it anyway.
Alameda Research was named for Alameda County in California, which was where its first office was set up. As for its name, here’s what Bankman-Fried said on the stand:
Effectively, we wanted to be under the radar at that point in time. I didn’t want to call it Sam’s Crypto Trading Firm or anything like that.
|
3733
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
Here is the story of FTX, from his point of view.
Bankman-Fried, who informed us he’s “somewhat introverted, naturally,” gave us a rather prolonged tour of his pre-Alameda Research life, which I will skip. In 2017, during a crypto bull run, he started his cryptocurrency trading firm. He knew “basically nothing” about cryptocurrency at the time, he explained, but he wanted to do arbitrage on it anyway.
Alameda Research was named for Alameda County in California, which was where its first office was set up. As for its name, here’s what Bankman-Fried said on the stand:
Effectively, we wanted to be under the radar at that point in time. I didn’t want to call it Sam’s Crypto Trading Firm or anything like that. We — there are a lot of competitors and people who we didn’t particularly want to know what we were building out because they would race to do it.
|
3734
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
Bankman-Fried, who informed us he’s “somewhat introverted, naturally,” gave us a rather prolonged tour of his pre-Alameda Research life, which I will skip. In 2017, during a crypto bull run, he started his cryptocurrency trading firm. He knew “basically nothing” about cryptocurrency at the time, he explained, but he wanted to do arbitrage on it anyway.
Alameda Research was named for Alameda County in California, which was where its first office was set up. As for its name, here’s what Bankman-Fried said on the stand:
Effectively, we wanted to be under the radar at that point in time. I didn’t want to call it Sam’s Crypto Trading Firm or anything like that. We — there are a lot of competitors and people who we didn’t particularly want to know what we were building out because they would race to do it. “Research” was a sort of generic word, which filled out the company name.
|
3735
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
In 2017, during a crypto bull run, he started his cryptocurrency trading firm. He knew “basically nothing” about cryptocurrency at the time, he explained, but he wanted to do arbitrage on it anyway.
Alameda Research was named for Alameda County in California, which was where its first office was set up. As for its name, here’s what Bankman-Fried said on the stand:
Effectively, we wanted to be under the radar at that point in time. I didn’t want to call it Sam’s Crypto Trading Firm or anything like that. We — there are a lot of competitors and people who we didn’t particularly want to know what we were building out because they would race to do it. “Research” was a sort of generic word, which filled out the company name. And that was — it was far better than the internal name that we had at that point, which was Wireless Mouse.
|
3736
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
In 2017, during a crypto bull run, he started his cryptocurrency trading firm. He knew “basically nothing” about cryptocurrency at the time, he explained, but he wanted to do arbitrage on it anyway.
Alameda Research was named for Alameda County in California, which was where its first office was set up. As for its name, here’s what Bankman-Fried said on the stand:
Effectively, we wanted to be under the radar at that point in time. I didn’t want to call it Sam’s Crypto Trading Firm or anything like that. We — there are a lot of competitors and people who we didn’t particularly want to know what we were building out because they would race to do it. “Research” was a sort of generic word, which filled out the company name. And that was — it was far better than the internal name that we had at that point, which was Wireless Mouse.
I would find this much more believable if I hadn’t already watched a video of Bankman-Fried explaining on a podcast that the name made it easier to get a bank account.
|
3737
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
Alameda Research was named for Alameda County in California, which was where its first office was set up. As for its name, here’s what Bankman-Fried said on the stand:
Effectively, we wanted to be under the radar at that point in time. I didn’t want to call it Sam’s Crypto Trading Firm or anything like that. We — there are a lot of competitors and people who we didn’t particularly want to know what we were building out because they would race to do it. “Research” was a sort of generic word, which filled out the company name. And that was — it was far better than the internal name that we had at that point, which was Wireless Mouse.
I would find this much more believable if I hadn’t already watched a video of Bankman-Fried explaining on a podcast that the name made it easier to get a bank account. That happened during the first day of Gary Wang’s testimony. Bankman-Fried was there, too. You know who else was there?
|
3738
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
As for its name, here’s what Bankman-Fried said on the stand:
Effectively, we wanted to be under the radar at that point in time. I didn’t want to call it Sam’s Crypto Trading Firm or anything like that. We — there are a lot of competitors and people who we didn’t particularly want to know what we were building out because they would race to do it. “Research” was a sort of generic word, which filled out the company name. And that was — it was far better than the internal name that we had at that point, which was Wireless Mouse.
I would find this much more believable if I hadn’t already watched a video of Bankman-Fried explaining on a podcast that the name made it easier to get a bank account. That happened during the first day of Gary Wang’s testimony. Bankman-Fried was there, too. You know who else was there? The jury.
Anyway, Bankman-Fried went on a hiring spree for Alameda.
|
3739
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
I didn’t want to call it Sam’s Crypto Trading Firm or anything like that. We — there are a lot of competitors and people who we didn’t particularly want to know what we were building out because they would race to do it. “Research” was a sort of generic word, which filled out the company name. And that was — it was far better than the internal name that we had at that point, which was Wireless Mouse.
I would find this much more believable if I hadn’t already watched a video of Bankman-Fried explaining on a podcast that the name made it easier to get a bank account. That happened during the first day of Gary Wang’s testimony. Bankman-Fried was there, too. You know who else was there? The jury.
Anyway, Bankman-Fried went on a hiring spree for Alameda. He rounded up his merry gang of alleged co-conspirators. First, Wang, to program the computers.
|
3740
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
We — there are a lot of competitors and people who we didn’t particularly want to know what we were building out because they would race to do it. “Research” was a sort of generic word, which filled out the company name. And that was — it was far better than the internal name that we had at that point, which was Wireless Mouse.
I would find this much more believable if I hadn’t already watched a video of Bankman-Fried explaining on a podcast that the name made it easier to get a bank account. That happened during the first day of Gary Wang’s testimony. Bankman-Fried was there, too. You know who else was there? The jury.
Anyway, Bankman-Fried went on a hiring spree for Alameda. He rounded up his merry gang of alleged co-conspirators. First, Wang, to program the computers. Then, Nishad Singh, about a month after founding Alameda Research. Finally, Caroline Ellison.
|
3741
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
“Research” was a sort of generic word, which filled out the company name. And that was — it was far better than the internal name that we had at that point, which was Wireless Mouse.
I would find this much more believable if I hadn’t already watched a video of Bankman-Fried explaining on a podcast that the name made it easier to get a bank account. That happened during the first day of Gary Wang’s testimony. Bankman-Fried was there, too. You know who else was there? The jury.
Anyway, Bankman-Fried went on a hiring spree for Alameda. He rounded up his merry gang of alleged co-conspirators. First, Wang, to program the computers. Then, Nishad Singh, about a month after founding Alameda Research. Finally, Caroline Ellison.
Not having a risk team, when you are any kind of financial anything, is certainly a choice
Though Bankman-Fried was the CEO, and also the majority owner, he wanted to be clear: he did not supervise Wang’s direct work.
|
3742
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
I would find this much more believable if I hadn’t already watched a video of Bankman-Fried explaining on a podcast that the name made it easier to get a bank account. That happened during the first day of Gary Wang’s testimony. Bankman-Fried was there, too. You know who else was there? The jury.
Anyway, Bankman-Fried went on a hiring spree for Alameda. He rounded up his merry gang of alleged co-conspirators. First, Wang, to program the computers. Then, Nishad Singh, about a month after founding Alameda Research. Finally, Caroline Ellison.
Not having a risk team, when you are any kind of financial anything, is certainly a choice
Though Bankman-Fried was the CEO, and also the majority owner, he wanted to be clear: he did not supervise Wang’s direct work. Anyway, after a bunch of wildly successful arbitrage — 50 percent to 100 percent annualized returns, per his testimony — he decided to found a cryptocurrency exchange, FTX.
|
3743
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
That happened during the first day of Gary Wang’s testimony. Bankman-Fried was there, too. You know who else was there? The jury.
Anyway, Bankman-Fried went on a hiring spree for Alameda. He rounded up his merry gang of alleged co-conspirators. First, Wang, to program the computers. Then, Nishad Singh, about a month after founding Alameda Research. Finally, Caroline Ellison.
Not having a risk team, when you are any kind of financial anything, is certainly a choice
Though Bankman-Fried was the CEO, and also the majority owner, he wanted to be clear: he did not supervise Wang’s direct work. Anyway, after a bunch of wildly successful arbitrage — 50 percent to 100 percent annualized returns, per his testimony — he decided to found a cryptocurrency exchange, FTX. He figured he’d fail; that there was only a 20 percent chance of success.
|
3744
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
Bankman-Fried was there, too. You know who else was there? The jury.
Anyway, Bankman-Fried went on a hiring spree for Alameda. He rounded up his merry gang of alleged co-conspirators. First, Wang, to program the computers. Then, Nishad Singh, about a month after founding Alameda Research. Finally, Caroline Ellison.
Not having a risk team, when you are any kind of financial anything, is certainly a choice
Though Bankman-Fried was the CEO, and also the majority owner, he wanted to be clear: he did not supervise Wang’s direct work. Anyway, after a bunch of wildly successful arbitrage — 50 percent to 100 percent annualized returns, per his testimony — he decided to found a cryptocurrency exchange, FTX. He figured he’d fail; that there was only a 20 percent chance of success. Bankman-Fried did not define what he expected the time period to be on this estimate, but arguably 20 percent was a much higher chance of success than FTX would enjoy once Alameda dipped into the customer deposits.
|
3745
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
He rounded up his merry gang of alleged co-conspirators. First, Wang, to program the computers. Then, Nishad Singh, about a month after founding Alameda Research. Finally, Caroline Ellison.
Not having a risk team, when you are any kind of financial anything, is certainly a choice
Though Bankman-Fried was the CEO, and also the majority owner, he wanted to be clear: he did not supervise Wang’s direct work. Anyway, after a bunch of wildly successful arbitrage — 50 percent to 100 percent annualized returns, per his testimony — he decided to found a cryptocurrency exchange, FTX. He figured he’d fail; that there was only a 20 percent chance of success. Bankman-Fried did not define what he expected the time period to be on this estimate, but arguably 20 percent was a much higher chance of success than FTX would enjoy once Alameda dipped into the customer deposits.
By the way, because he was such a good guy, Bankman-Fried made a point of “periodically” handling support tickets himself.
|
3746
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
Finally, Caroline Ellison.
Not having a risk team, when you are any kind of financial anything, is certainly a choice
Though Bankman-Fried was the CEO, and also the majority owner, he wanted to be clear: he did not supervise Wang’s direct work. Anyway, after a bunch of wildly successful arbitrage — 50 percent to 100 percent annualized returns, per his testimony — he decided to found a cryptocurrency exchange, FTX. He figured he’d fail; that there was only a 20 percent chance of success. Bankman-Fried did not define what he expected the time period to be on this estimate, but arguably 20 percent was a much higher chance of success than FTX would enjoy once Alameda dipped into the customer deposits.
By the way, because he was such a good guy, Bankman-Fried made a point of “periodically” handling support tickets himself. “I worried if I didn’t, I would lose touch with the actual concerns of the customers,” he testified.
|
3747
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
Anyway, after a bunch of wildly successful arbitrage — 50 percent to 100 percent annualized returns, per his testimony — he decided to found a cryptocurrency exchange, FTX. He figured he’d fail; that there was only a 20 percent chance of success. Bankman-Fried did not define what he expected the time period to be on this estimate, but arguably 20 percent was a much higher chance of success than FTX would enjoy once Alameda dipped into the customer deposits.
By the way, because he was such a good guy, Bankman-Fried made a point of “periodically” handling support tickets himself. “I worried if I didn’t, I would lose touch with the actual concerns of the customers,” he testified. What he did not do was create a risk team, which he is now characterizing as a “big mistake.”
Risk is an inherent part of a futures exchange, which is even more like a casino than regular cryptocurrency.
|
3748
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
Anyway, after a bunch of wildly successful arbitrage — 50 percent to 100 percent annualized returns, per his testimony — he decided to found a cryptocurrency exchange, FTX. He figured he’d fail; that there was only a 20 percent chance of success. Bankman-Fried did not define what he expected the time period to be on this estimate, but arguably 20 percent was a much higher chance of success than FTX would enjoy once Alameda dipped into the customer deposits.
By the way, because he was such a good guy, Bankman-Fried made a point of “periodically” handling support tickets himself. “I worried if I didn’t, I would lose touch with the actual concerns of the customers,” he testified. What he did not do was create a risk team, which he is now characterizing as a “big mistake.”
Risk is an inherent part of a futures exchange, which is even more like a casino than regular cryptocurrency. Not having a risk team, when you are any kind of financial anything, is certainly a choice.
|
3749
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
He figured he’d fail; that there was only a 20 percent chance of success. Bankman-Fried did not define what he expected the time period to be on this estimate, but arguably 20 percent was a much higher chance of success than FTX would enjoy once Alameda dipped into the customer deposits.
By the way, because he was such a good guy, Bankman-Fried made a point of “periodically” handling support tickets himself. “I worried if I didn’t, I would lose touch with the actual concerns of the customers,” he testified. What he did not do was create a risk team, which he is now characterizing as a “big mistake.”
Risk is an inherent part of a futures exchange, which is even more like a casino than regular cryptocurrency. Not having a risk team, when you are any kind of financial anything, is certainly a choice. It is especially a choice when you go around telling everyone your crypto exchange is very good and safe.
|
3750
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
Bankman-Fried did not define what he expected the time period to be on this estimate, but arguably 20 percent was a much higher chance of success than FTX would enjoy once Alameda dipped into the customer deposits.
By the way, because he was such a good guy, Bankman-Fried made a point of “periodically” handling support tickets himself. “I worried if I didn’t, I would lose touch with the actual concerns of the customers,” he testified. What he did not do was create a risk team, which he is now characterizing as a “big mistake.”
Risk is an inherent part of a futures exchange, which is even more like a casino than regular cryptocurrency. Not having a risk team, when you are any kind of financial anything, is certainly a choice. It is especially a choice when you go around telling everyone your crypto exchange is very good and safe.
FTX’s big selling point was its “risk engine,” which was supposed to prevent big losses that would then be spread around all the rest of the customers.
|
3751
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
By the way, because he was such a good guy, Bankman-Fried made a point of “periodically” handling support tickets himself. “I worried if I didn’t, I would lose touch with the actual concerns of the customers,” he testified. What he did not do was create a risk team, which he is now characterizing as a “big mistake.”
Risk is an inherent part of a futures exchange, which is even more like a casino than regular cryptocurrency. Not having a risk team, when you are any kind of financial anything, is certainly a choice. It is especially a choice when you go around telling everyone your crypto exchange is very good and safe.
FTX’s big selling point was its “risk engine,” which was supposed to prevent big losses that would then be spread around all the rest of the customers. But Bankman-Fried testified that in 2020, the “risk engine was effectively sagging under the weight” of the exchange’s rapid growth.
|
3752
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
“I worried if I didn’t, I would lose touch with the actual concerns of the customers,” he testified. What he did not do was create a risk team, which he is now characterizing as a “big mistake.”
Risk is an inherent part of a futures exchange, which is even more like a casino than regular cryptocurrency. Not having a risk team, when you are any kind of financial anything, is certainly a choice. It is especially a choice when you go around telling everyone your crypto exchange is very good and safe.
FTX’s big selling point was its “risk engine,” which was supposed to prevent big losses that would then be spread around all the rest of the customers. But Bankman-Fried testified that in 2020, the “risk engine was effectively sagging under the weight” of the exchange’s rapid growth. So its time to liquidation went up — it took minutes to determine which accounts needed to be liquidated.
|
3753
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
“I worried if I didn’t, I would lose touch with the actual concerns of the customers,” he testified. What he did not do was create a risk team, which he is now characterizing as a “big mistake.”
Risk is an inherent part of a futures exchange, which is even more like a casino than regular cryptocurrency. Not having a risk team, when you are any kind of financial anything, is certainly a choice. It is especially a choice when you go around telling everyone your crypto exchange is very good and safe.
FTX’s big selling point was its “risk engine,” which was supposed to prevent big losses that would then be spread around all the rest of the customers. But Bankman-Fried testified that in 2020, the “risk engine was effectively sagging under the weight” of the exchange’s rapid growth. So its time to liquidation went up — it took minutes to determine which accounts needed to be liquidated. As a result, at one point the risk engine got stuck in a catastrophic feedback loop that would have created losses in the “trillions of dollars,” Bankman-Fried testified.
|
3754
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
Not having a risk team, when you are any kind of financial anything, is certainly a choice. It is especially a choice when you go around telling everyone your crypto exchange is very good and safe.
FTX’s big selling point was its “risk engine,” which was supposed to prevent big losses that would then be spread around all the rest of the customers. But Bankman-Fried testified that in 2020, the “risk engine was effectively sagging under the weight” of the exchange’s rapid growth. So its time to liquidation went up — it took minutes to determine which accounts needed to be liquidated. As a result, at one point the risk engine got stuck in a catastrophic feedback loop that would have created losses in the “trillions of dollars,” Bankman-Fried testified. As part of that feedback loop, Alameda teetered on the brink of liquidation, which “would have disastrous consequences” for FTX.
|
3755
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
Not having a risk team, when you are any kind of financial anything, is certainly a choice. It is especially a choice when you go around telling everyone your crypto exchange is very good and safe.
FTX’s big selling point was its “risk engine,” which was supposed to prevent big losses that would then be spread around all the rest of the customers. But Bankman-Fried testified that in 2020, the “risk engine was effectively sagging under the weight” of the exchange’s rapid growth. So its time to liquidation went up — it took minutes to determine which accounts needed to be liquidated. As a result, at one point the risk engine got stuck in a catastrophic feedback loop that would have created losses in the “trillions of dollars,” Bankman-Fried testified. As part of that feedback loop, Alameda teetered on the brink of liquidation, which “would have disastrous consequences” for FTX.
“At the time, I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening.”
Because of that experience, Bankman-Fried suggested an “alert” or “delay” that would keep Alameda from being liquidated by a bug.
|
3756
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
FTX’s big selling point was its “risk engine,” which was supposed to prevent big losses that would then be spread around all the rest of the customers. But Bankman-Fried testified that in 2020, the “risk engine was effectively sagging under the weight” of the exchange’s rapid growth. So its time to liquidation went up — it took minutes to determine which accounts needed to be liquidated. As a result, at one point the risk engine got stuck in a catastrophic feedback loop that would have created losses in the “trillions of dollars,” Bankman-Fried testified. As part of that feedback loop, Alameda teetered on the brink of liquidation, which “would have disastrous consequences” for FTX.
“At the time, I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening.”
Because of that experience, Bankman-Fried suggested an “alert” or “delay” that would keep Alameda from being liquidated by a bug. This is the supposed origin story of “allow_negative,” which Bankman-Fried says was the eventual result of that conversation, and that he says he didn’t know about until very recently.
|
3757
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
So its time to liquidation went up — it took minutes to determine which accounts needed to be liquidated. As a result, at one point the risk engine got stuck in a catastrophic feedback loop that would have created losses in the “trillions of dollars,” Bankman-Fried testified. As part of that feedback loop, Alameda teetered on the brink of liquidation, which “would have disastrous consequences” for FTX.
“At the time, I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening.”
Because of that experience, Bankman-Fried suggested an “alert” or “delay” that would keep Alameda from being liquidated by a bug. This is the supposed origin story of “allow_negative,” which Bankman-Fried says was the eventual result of that conversation, and that he says he didn’t know about until very recently.
There is a problem with this story. “Allow_negative” was coded and switched on in 2019.
|
3758
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
So its time to liquidation went up — it took minutes to determine which accounts needed to be liquidated. As a result, at one point the risk engine got stuck in a catastrophic feedback loop that would have created losses in the “trillions of dollars,” Bankman-Fried testified. As part of that feedback loop, Alameda teetered on the brink of liquidation, which “would have disastrous consequences” for FTX.
“At the time, I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening.”
Because of that experience, Bankman-Fried suggested an “alert” or “delay” that would keep Alameda from being liquidated by a bug. This is the supposed origin story of “allow_negative,” which Bankman-Fried says was the eventual result of that conversation, and that he says he didn’t know about until very recently.
There is a problem with this story. “Allow_negative” was coded and switched on in 2019. I saw the code in court, and so did Bankman-Fried, who was also there for the testimony.
|
3759
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
As a result, at one point the risk engine got stuck in a catastrophic feedback loop that would have created losses in the “trillions of dollars,” Bankman-Fried testified. As part of that feedback loop, Alameda teetered on the brink of liquidation, which “would have disastrous consequences” for FTX.
“At the time, I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening.”
Because of that experience, Bankman-Fried suggested an “alert” or “delay” that would keep Alameda from being liquidated by a bug. This is the supposed origin story of “allow_negative,” which Bankman-Fried says was the eventual result of that conversation, and that he says he didn’t know about until very recently.
There is a problem with this story. “Allow_negative” was coded and switched on in 2019. I saw the code in court, and so did Bankman-Fried, who was also there for the testimony. Perhaps you are wondering, was the jury also there? Reader, it was.
|
3760
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
As part of that feedback loop, Alameda teetered on the brink of liquidation, which “would have disastrous consequences” for FTX.
“At the time, I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening.”
Because of that experience, Bankman-Fried suggested an “alert” or “delay” that would keep Alameda from being liquidated by a bug. This is the supposed origin story of “allow_negative,” which Bankman-Fried says was the eventual result of that conversation, and that he says he didn’t know about until very recently.
There is a problem with this story. “Allow_negative” was coded and switched on in 2019. I saw the code in court, and so did Bankman-Fried, who was also there for the testimony. Perhaps you are wondering, was the jury also there? Reader, it was.
Bankman-Fried denied he knew about the effectively infinite line of credit Alameda Research received from FTX.
|
3761
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
“At the time, I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening.”
Because of that experience, Bankman-Fried suggested an “alert” or “delay” that would keep Alameda from being liquidated by a bug. This is the supposed origin story of “allow_negative,” which Bankman-Fried says was the eventual result of that conversation, and that he says he didn’t know about until very recently.
There is a problem with this story. “Allow_negative” was coded and switched on in 2019. I saw the code in court, and so did Bankman-Fried, who was also there for the testimony. Perhaps you are wondering, was the jury also there? Reader, it was.
Bankman-Fried denied he knew about the effectively infinite line of credit Alameda Research received from FTX. This argument was peculiar; essentially my take-away was that the CEO of a financial company simply didn’t pay attention to finances.
FTX couldn’t get bank accounts right away.
|
3762
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
This is the supposed origin story of “allow_negative,” which Bankman-Fried says was the eventual result of that conversation, and that he says he didn’t know about until very recently.
There is a problem with this story. “Allow_negative” was coded and switched on in 2019. I saw the code in court, and so did Bankman-Fried, who was also there for the testimony. Perhaps you are wondering, was the jury also there? Reader, it was.
Bankman-Fried denied he knew about the effectively infinite line of credit Alameda Research received from FTX. This argument was peculiar; essentially my take-away was that the CEO of a financial company simply didn’t pay attention to finances.
FTX couldn’t get bank accounts right away. Bankman-Fried anticipated it would take a year or two. Rather than wait, he decided to use Alameda as the “payment provider” for bank transfers. “My understanding at the time was that there were teams managing the process,” he said.
|
3763
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
There is a problem with this story. “Allow_negative” was coded and switched on in 2019. I saw the code in court, and so did Bankman-Fried, who was also there for the testimony. Perhaps you are wondering, was the jury also there? Reader, it was.
Bankman-Fried denied he knew about the effectively infinite line of credit Alameda Research received from FTX. This argument was peculiar; essentially my take-away was that the CEO of a financial company simply didn’t pay attention to finances.
FTX couldn’t get bank accounts right away. Bankman-Fried anticipated it would take a year or two. Rather than wait, he decided to use Alameda as the “payment provider” for bank transfers. “My understanding at the time was that there were teams managing the process,” he said. “At the time, I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening.”
Well, sure, understandable! He’s an introvert!
|
3764
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
“Allow_negative” was coded and switched on in 2019. I saw the code in court, and so did Bankman-Fried, who was also there for the testimony. Perhaps you are wondering, was the jury also there? Reader, it was.
Bankman-Fried denied he knew about the effectively infinite line of credit Alameda Research received from FTX. This argument was peculiar; essentially my take-away was that the CEO of a financial company simply didn’t pay attention to finances.
FTX couldn’t get bank accounts right away. Bankman-Fried anticipated it would take a year or two. Rather than wait, he decided to use Alameda as the “payment provider” for bank transfers. “My understanding at the time was that there were teams managing the process,” he said. “At the time, I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening.”
Well, sure, understandable! He’s an introvert!
Bankman-Fried definitely did not know that Singh, his employee, had backdated interest payments to get FTX “over the line” to $1 billion
In 2021, FTX was growing to millions of users, with $1 billion of revenue.
|
3765
|
The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
Reader, it was.
Bankman-Fried denied he knew about the effectively infinite line of credit Alameda Research received from FTX. This argument was peculiar; essentially my take-away was that the CEO of a financial company simply didn’t pay attention to finances.
FTX couldn’t get bank accounts right away. Bankman-Fried anticipated it would take a year or two. Rather than wait, he decided to use Alameda as the “payment provider” for bank transfers. “My understanding at the time was that there were teams managing the process,” he said. “At the time, I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening.”
Well, sure, understandable! He’s an introvert!
Bankman-Fried definitely did not know that Singh, his employee, had backdated interest payments to get FTX “over the line” to $1 billion
In 2021, FTX was growing to millions of users, with $1 billion of revenue. Bankman-Fried said he worked 12 to 22 hours a day, and took one day off every couple of months.
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
This argument was peculiar; essentially my take-away was that the CEO of a financial company simply didn’t pay attention to finances.
FTX couldn’t get bank accounts right away. Bankman-Fried anticipated it would take a year or two. Rather than wait, he decided to use Alameda as the “payment provider” for bank transfers. “My understanding at the time was that there were teams managing the process,” he said. “At the time, I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening.”
Well, sure, understandable! He’s an introvert!
Bankman-Fried definitely did not know that Singh, his employee, had backdated interest payments to get FTX “over the line” to $1 billion
In 2021, FTX was growing to millions of users, with $1 billion of revenue. Bankman-Fried said he worked 12 to 22 hours a day, and took one day off every couple of months. Because FTX had grown so much, he could no longer run both companies, he said.
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
FTX couldn’t get bank accounts right away. Bankman-Fried anticipated it would take a year or two. Rather than wait, he decided to use Alameda as the “payment provider” for bank transfers. “My understanding at the time was that there were teams managing the process,” he said. “At the time, I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening.”
Well, sure, understandable! He’s an introvert!
Bankman-Fried definitely did not know that Singh, his employee, had backdated interest payments to get FTX “over the line” to $1 billion
In 2021, FTX was growing to millions of users, with $1 billion of revenue. Bankman-Fried said he worked 12 to 22 hours a day, and took one day off every couple of months. Because FTX had grown so much, he could no longer run both companies, he said. Bankman-Fried handed the company off to Caroline Ellison and Sam Trabucco, who immediately after being named co-CEO promptly drifted away to early retirement.
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
“My understanding at the time was that there were teams managing the process,” he said. “At the time, I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening.”
Well, sure, understandable! He’s an introvert!
Bankman-Fried definitely did not know that Singh, his employee, had backdated interest payments to get FTX “over the line” to $1 billion
In 2021, FTX was growing to millions of users, with $1 billion of revenue. Bankman-Fried said he worked 12 to 22 hours a day, and took one day off every couple of months. Because FTX had grown so much, he could no longer run both companies, he said. Bankman-Fried handed the company off to Caroline Ellison and Sam Trabucco, who immediately after being named co-CEO promptly drifted away to early retirement. (Quiet quitting king!) Bankman-Fried did remain involved in hedging and risk at Alameda, though.
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
“At the time, I wasn’t entirely sure what was happening.”
Well, sure, understandable! He’s an introvert!
Bankman-Fried definitely did not know that Singh, his employee, had backdated interest payments to get FTX “over the line” to $1 billion
In 2021, FTX was growing to millions of users, with $1 billion of revenue. Bankman-Fried said he worked 12 to 22 hours a day, and took one day off every couple of months. Because FTX had grown so much, he could no longer run both companies, he said. Bankman-Fried handed the company off to Caroline Ellison and Sam Trabucco, who immediately after being named co-CEO promptly drifted away to early retirement. (Quiet quitting king!) Bankman-Fried did remain involved in hedging and risk at Alameda, though.
About that $1 billion of revenue in 2021: Bankman-Fried definitely did not know that Singh, his employee, had backdated interest payments to get FTX “over the line” to $1 billion.
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
Bankman-Fried said he worked 12 to 22 hours a day, and took one day off every couple of months. Because FTX had grown so much, he could no longer run both companies, he said. Bankman-Fried handed the company off to Caroline Ellison and Sam Trabucco, who immediately after being named co-CEO promptly drifted away to early retirement. (Quiet quitting king!) Bankman-Fried did remain involved in hedging and risk at Alameda, though.
About that $1 billion of revenue in 2021: Bankman-Fried definitely did not know that Singh, his employee, had backdated interest payments to get FTX “over the line” to $1 billion. See, he’d just asked his employees to check and see if there was any source of funds that was missing to get to $1 billion. This testimony was especially rambling.
Oh, also that MobileCoin loss? The one Wang said Alameda took to keep off FTX’s balance sheet?
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
Because FTX had grown so much, he could no longer run both companies, he said. Bankman-Fried handed the company off to Caroline Ellison and Sam Trabucco, who immediately after being named co-CEO promptly drifted away to early retirement. (Quiet quitting king!) Bankman-Fried did remain involved in hedging and risk at Alameda, though.
About that $1 billion of revenue in 2021: Bankman-Fried definitely did not know that Singh, his employee, had backdated interest payments to get FTX “over the line” to $1 billion. See, he’d just asked his employees to check and see if there was any source of funds that was missing to get to $1 billion. This testimony was especially rambling.
Oh, also that MobileCoin loss? The one Wang said Alameda took to keep off FTX’s balance sheet? Yeah, so it was a totally innocent thing where what actually happened was that Bankman-Fried thought it was appropriate that Alameda take the position as a backstop liquidity provider, that’s all.
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3772
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
(Quiet quitting king!) Bankman-Fried did remain involved in hedging and risk at Alameda, though.
About that $1 billion of revenue in 2021: Bankman-Fried definitely did not know that Singh, his employee, had backdated interest payments to get FTX “over the line” to $1 billion. See, he’d just asked his employees to check and see if there was any source of funds that was missing to get to $1 billion. This testimony was especially rambling.
Oh, also that MobileCoin loss? The one Wang said Alameda took to keep off FTX’s balance sheet? Yeah, so it was a totally innocent thing where what actually happened was that Bankman-Fried thought it was appropriate that Alameda take the position as a backstop liquidity provider, that’s all.
In June 2022, Bankman-Fried heard about the account called “fiat@ftx” tracking how much money Alameda owed to FTX, he testified.
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
About that $1 billion of revenue in 2021: Bankman-Fried definitely did not know that Singh, his employee, had backdated interest payments to get FTX “over the line” to $1 billion. See, he’d just asked his employees to check and see if there was any source of funds that was missing to get to $1 billion. This testimony was especially rambling.
Oh, also that MobileCoin loss? The one Wang said Alameda took to keep off FTX’s balance sheet? Yeah, so it was a totally innocent thing where what actually happened was that Bankman-Fried thought it was appropriate that Alameda take the position as a backstop liquidity provider, that’s all.
In June 2022, Bankman-Fried heard about the account called “fiat@ftx” tracking how much money Alameda owed to FTX, he testified. He did not know what it was and did not bother to find out. He was busy!
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
See, he’d just asked his employees to check and see if there was any source of funds that was missing to get to $1 billion. This testimony was especially rambling.
Oh, also that MobileCoin loss? The one Wang said Alameda took to keep off FTX’s balance sheet? Yeah, so it was a totally innocent thing where what actually happened was that Bankman-Fried thought it was appropriate that Alameda take the position as a backstop liquidity provider, that’s all.
In June 2022, Bankman-Fried heard about the account called “fiat@ftx” tracking how much money Alameda owed to FTX, he testified. He did not know what it was and did not bother to find out. He was busy! That was when Bankman-Fried directed Ellison to repay Alameda’s lenders, because he thought Alameda was good for it. He also gave BlockFi and Voyager, two crypto lenders, some capital infusions for good measure.
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3775
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
This testimony was especially rambling.
Oh, also that MobileCoin loss? The one Wang said Alameda took to keep off FTX’s balance sheet? Yeah, so it was a totally innocent thing where what actually happened was that Bankman-Fried thought it was appropriate that Alameda take the position as a backstop liquidity provider, that’s all.
In June 2022, Bankman-Fried heard about the account called “fiat@ftx” tracking how much money Alameda owed to FTX, he testified. He did not know what it was and did not bother to find out. He was busy! That was when Bankman-Fried directed Ellison to repay Alameda’s lenders, because he thought Alameda was good for it. He also gave BlockFi and Voyager, two crypto lenders, some capital infusions for good measure.
He was “very surprised!”
Remember that testimony Adam Yedidia gave about a conversation with Bankman-Fried in August 2022 about the enormous amount of money Alameda owed FTX?
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
Yeah, so it was a totally innocent thing where what actually happened was that Bankman-Fried thought it was appropriate that Alameda take the position as a backstop liquidity provider, that’s all.
In June 2022, Bankman-Fried heard about the account called “fiat@ftx” tracking how much money Alameda owed to FTX, he testified. He did not know what it was and did not bother to find out. He was busy! That was when Bankman-Fried directed Ellison to repay Alameda’s lenders, because he thought Alameda was good for it. He also gave BlockFi and Voyager, two crypto lenders, some capital infusions for good measure.
He was “very surprised!”
Remember that testimony Adam Yedidia gave about a conversation with Bankman-Fried in August 2022 about the enormous amount of money Alameda owed FTX? Well, Bankman-Fried remembers it differently.
|
3777
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
Yeah, so it was a totally innocent thing where what actually happened was that Bankman-Fried thought it was appropriate that Alameda take the position as a backstop liquidity provider, that’s all.
In June 2022, Bankman-Fried heard about the account called “fiat@ftx” tracking how much money Alameda owed to FTX, he testified. He did not know what it was and did not bother to find out. He was busy! That was when Bankman-Fried directed Ellison to repay Alameda’s lenders, because he thought Alameda was good for it. He also gave BlockFi and Voyager, two crypto lenders, some capital infusions for good measure.
He was “very surprised!”
Remember that testimony Adam Yedidia gave about a conversation with Bankman-Fried in August 2022 about the enormous amount of money Alameda owed FTX? Well, Bankman-Fried remembers it differently. See, Yedidia was just asking about Alameda’s risk profile, and Bankman-Fried wasn’t talking about insolvency at all.
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
In June 2022, Bankman-Fried heard about the account called “fiat@ftx” tracking how much money Alameda owed to FTX, he testified. He did not know what it was and did not bother to find out. He was busy! That was when Bankman-Fried directed Ellison to repay Alameda’s lenders, because he thought Alameda was good for it. He also gave BlockFi and Voyager, two crypto lenders, some capital infusions for good measure.
He was “very surprised!”
Remember that testimony Adam Yedidia gave about a conversation with Bankman-Fried in August 2022 about the enormous amount of money Alameda owed FTX? Well, Bankman-Fried remembers it differently. See, Yedidia was just asking about Alameda’s risk profile, and Bankman-Fried wasn’t talking about insolvency at all.
Also, when Singh and Bankman-Fried had the dramatic balcony conversation at their penthouse, it was just that Singh thought Alameda’s liabilities had gotten too high, and FTX was spending too much money on marketing.
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
He did not know what it was and did not bother to find out. He was busy! That was when Bankman-Fried directed Ellison to repay Alameda’s lenders, because he thought Alameda was good for it. He also gave BlockFi and Voyager, two crypto lenders, some capital infusions for good measure.
He was “very surprised!”
Remember that testimony Adam Yedidia gave about a conversation with Bankman-Fried in August 2022 about the enormous amount of money Alameda owed FTX? Well, Bankman-Fried remembers it differently. See, Yedidia was just asking about Alameda’s risk profile, and Bankman-Fried wasn’t talking about insolvency at all.
Also, when Singh and Bankman-Fried had the dramatic balcony conversation at their penthouse, it was just that Singh thought Alameda’s liabilities had gotten too high, and FTX was spending too much money on marketing. But Bankman-Fried still thought that Alameda had more assets than liabilities, so it was all fine, and besides, if Singh thought he was going to be better at marketing, he could take it over.
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
He also gave BlockFi and Voyager, two crypto lenders, some capital infusions for good measure.
He was “very surprised!”
Remember that testimony Adam Yedidia gave about a conversation with Bankman-Fried in August 2022 about the enormous amount of money Alameda owed FTX? Well, Bankman-Fried remembers it differently. See, Yedidia was just asking about Alameda’s risk profile, and Bankman-Fried wasn’t talking about insolvency at all.
Also, when Singh and Bankman-Fried had the dramatic balcony conversation at their penthouse, it was just that Singh thought Alameda’s liabilities had gotten too high, and FTX was spending too much money on marketing. But Bankman-Fried still thought that Alameda had more assets than liabilities, so it was all fine, and besides, if Singh thought he was going to be better at marketing, he could take it over. It didn’t have anything to do with the money Alameda owed FTX at all.
Of course not!
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3781
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
He was “very surprised!”
Remember that testimony Adam Yedidia gave about a conversation with Bankman-Fried in August 2022 about the enormous amount of money Alameda owed FTX? Well, Bankman-Fried remembers it differently. See, Yedidia was just asking about Alameda’s risk profile, and Bankman-Fried wasn’t talking about insolvency at all.
Also, when Singh and Bankman-Fried had the dramatic balcony conversation at their penthouse, it was just that Singh thought Alameda’s liabilities had gotten too high, and FTX was spending too much money on marketing. But Bankman-Fried still thought that Alameda had more assets than liabilities, so it was all fine, and besides, if Singh thought he was going to be better at marketing, he could take it over. It didn’t have anything to do with the money Alameda owed FTX at all.
Of course not! Bankman-Fried didn’t learn about the $8 billion liability associated with Alameda until October 2022, he said.
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3782
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
Well, Bankman-Fried remembers it differently. See, Yedidia was just asking about Alameda’s risk profile, and Bankman-Fried wasn’t talking about insolvency at all.
Also, when Singh and Bankman-Fried had the dramatic balcony conversation at their penthouse, it was just that Singh thought Alameda’s liabilities had gotten too high, and FTX was spending too much money on marketing. But Bankman-Fried still thought that Alameda had more assets than liabilities, so it was all fine, and besides, if Singh thought he was going to be better at marketing, he could take it over. It didn’t have anything to do with the money Alameda owed FTX at all.
Of course not! Bankman-Fried didn’t learn about the $8 billion liability associated with Alameda until October 2022, he said. And he learned it all by himself, by looking at a computer database.
|
3783
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
Well, Bankman-Fried remembers it differently. See, Yedidia was just asking about Alameda’s risk profile, and Bankman-Fried wasn’t talking about insolvency at all.
Also, when Singh and Bankman-Fried had the dramatic balcony conversation at their penthouse, it was just that Singh thought Alameda’s liabilities had gotten too high, and FTX was spending too much money on marketing. But Bankman-Fried still thought that Alameda had more assets than liabilities, so it was all fine, and besides, if Singh thought he was going to be better at marketing, he could take it over. It didn’t have anything to do with the money Alameda owed FTX at all.
Of course not! Bankman-Fried didn’t learn about the $8 billion liability associated with Alameda until October 2022, he said. And he learned it all by himself, by looking at a computer database. When he found it, he was “very surprised!”
Besides the two obvious lies Bankman-Fried told on the stand — about Alameda Research’s name and about “allow_negative” — I have been struck by how little he seems to know about his own companies.
|
3784
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The jury finally hears from Sam Bankman-Fried
But Bankman-Fried still thought that Alameda had more assets than liabilities, so it was all fine, and besides, if Singh thought he was going to be better at marketing, he could take it over. It didn’t have anything to do with the money Alameda owed FTX at all.
Of course not! Bankman-Fried didn’t learn about the $8 billion liability associated with Alameda until October 2022, he said. And he learned it all by himself, by looking at a computer database. When he found it, he was “very surprised!”
Besides the two obvious lies Bankman-Fried told on the stand — about Alameda Research’s name and about “allow_negative” — I have been struck by how little he seems to know about his own companies. Apparently, Singh, Wang, and Ellison were out there just doing whatever their little hearts desired. Because Bankman-Fried was a CEO, but definitely not the kind that pays any attention to money at his crypto trading firm and futures exchange.
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3785
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How the OpenAI fiasco could bolster Meta and the ‘open AI’ movement
It has been a whirlwind four days for OpenAI, the generative AI poster child behind the smash hit ChatGPT.
Seemingly out of nowhere, the OpenAI board ousted CEO and co-founder Sam Altman and demoted president and co-founder Greg Brockman, who subsequently resigned, paving the way for what looked like a mutiny by staff insisting the founders be reinstated post-haste. By then, Microsoft had already hired Altman and Brockman to head up a new internal AI unit, though, as things transpired, nothing had actually been signed yet, with rumors suggesting that the ousted leaders might actually return to OpenAI after all — in some capacity, at least.
The situation remains fluid, and any number of potential outcomes still remain on the table. But the whole debacle has shone a spotlight on the forces that control the burgeoning AI revolution, leading many to question what happens if you go all-in on a centralized proprietary player, and what happens if things then go belly-up?
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How the OpenAI fiasco could bolster Meta and the ‘open AI’ movement
Seemingly out of nowhere, the OpenAI board ousted CEO and co-founder Sam Altman and demoted president and co-founder Greg Brockman, who subsequently resigned, paving the way for what looked like a mutiny by staff insisting the founders be reinstated post-haste. By then, Microsoft had already hired Altman and Brockman to head up a new internal AI unit, though, as things transpired, nothing had actually been signed yet, with rumors suggesting that the ousted leaders might actually return to OpenAI after all — in some capacity, at least.
The situation remains fluid, and any number of potential outcomes still remain on the table. But the whole debacle has shone a spotlight on the forces that control the burgeoning AI revolution, leading many to question what happens if you go all-in on a centralized proprietary player, and what happens if things then go belly-up?
“The OpenAI / Microsoft drama underlines one of the big near-term risks with AI — that this next wave of technology is controlled by the same tiny set of players who have shaped that last era of the internet,” Mark Surman, president and executive director at the Mozilla Foundation, told TechCrunch.
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3787
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How the OpenAI fiasco could bolster Meta and the ‘open AI’ movement
By then, Microsoft had already hired Altman and Brockman to head up a new internal AI unit, though, as things transpired, nothing had actually been signed yet, with rumors suggesting that the ousted leaders might actually return to OpenAI after all — in some capacity, at least.
The situation remains fluid, and any number of potential outcomes still remain on the table. But the whole debacle has shone a spotlight on the forces that control the burgeoning AI revolution, leading many to question what happens if you go all-in on a centralized proprietary player, and what happens if things then go belly-up?
“The OpenAI / Microsoft drama underlines one of the big near-term risks with AI — that this next wave of technology is controlled by the same tiny set of players who have shaped that last era of the internet,” Mark Surman, president and executive director at the Mozilla Foundation, told TechCrunch. “We might have a chance of avoiding this if GPT-X were responsibly open sourced, giving researchers and startups a shot at making this technology safer, more useful and more trustworthy for people everywhere.”
Open and shut
In an open letter published by Mozilla a few weeks back, Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun joined some 70 other signatories in calling for more openness in AI development, though that letter has since garnered more than 1,700 signatures.
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How the OpenAI fiasco could bolster Meta and the ‘open AI’ movement
“The OpenAI / Microsoft drama underlines one of the big near-term risks with AI — that this next wave of technology is controlled by the same tiny set of players who have shaped that last era of the internet,” Mark Surman, president and executive director at the Mozilla Foundation, told TechCrunch. “We might have a chance of avoiding this if GPT-X were responsibly open sourced, giving researchers and startups a shot at making this technology safer, more useful and more trustworthy for people everywhere.”
Open and shut
In an open letter published by Mozilla a few weeks back, Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun joined some 70 other signatories in calling for more openness in AI development, though that letter has since garnered more than 1,700 signatures. The backdrop stems from Big Tech companies such as OpenAI and Google’s DeepMind calling for more regulation, warning of catastrophic consequences if the AI levers were to meet the wrong hands — in other words, they argued that proprietary AI is safer than open source.
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How the OpenAI fiasco could bolster Meta and the ‘open AI’ movement
“We might have a chance of avoiding this if GPT-X were responsibly open sourced, giving researchers and startups a shot at making this technology safer, more useful and more trustworthy for people everywhere.”
Open and shut
In an open letter published by Mozilla a few weeks back, Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun joined some 70 other signatories in calling for more openness in AI development, though that letter has since garnered more than 1,700 signatures. The backdrop stems from Big Tech companies such as OpenAI and Google’s DeepMind calling for more regulation, warning of catastrophic consequences if the AI levers were to meet the wrong hands — in other words, they argued that proprietary AI is safer than open source.
LeCun et al. disagree.
“Yes, openly available models come with risks and vulnerabilities — AI models can be abused by malicious actors or deployed by ill-equipped developers,” the letter acknowledged.
|
3790
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How the OpenAI fiasco could bolster Meta and the ‘open AI’ movement
“We might have a chance of avoiding this if GPT-X were responsibly open sourced, giving researchers and startups a shot at making this technology safer, more useful and more trustworthy for people everywhere.”
Open and shut
In an open letter published by Mozilla a few weeks back, Meta’s chief AI scientist Yann LeCun joined some 70 other signatories in calling for more openness in AI development, though that letter has since garnered more than 1,700 signatures. The backdrop stems from Big Tech companies such as OpenAI and Google’s DeepMind calling for more regulation, warning of catastrophic consequences if the AI levers were to meet the wrong hands — in other words, they argued that proprietary AI is safer than open source.
LeCun et al. disagree.
“Yes, openly available models come with risks and vulnerabilities — AI models can be abused by malicious actors or deployed by ill-equipped developers,” the letter acknowledged. “However, we have seen time and time again that the same holds true for proprietary technologies — and that increasing public access and scrutiny makes technology safer, not more dangerous.
|
3791
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How the OpenAI fiasco could bolster Meta and the ‘open AI’ movement
The backdrop stems from Big Tech companies such as OpenAI and Google’s DeepMind calling for more regulation, warning of catastrophic consequences if the AI levers were to meet the wrong hands — in other words, they argued that proprietary AI is safer than open source.
LeCun et al. disagree.
“Yes, openly available models come with risks and vulnerabilities — AI models can be abused by malicious actors or deployed by ill-equipped developers,” the letter acknowledged. “However, we have seen time and time again that the same holds true for proprietary technologies — and that increasing public access and scrutiny makes technology safer, not more dangerous. The idea that tight and proprietary control of foundational AI models is the only path to protecting us from society-scale harm is naive at best, dangerous at worst.”
On a personal level, LeCun has accused the big-name AI players of trying to secure “regulatory capture of the AI industry” by lobbying against open AI R&D.
|
3792
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How the OpenAI fiasco could bolster Meta and the ‘open AI’ movement
The backdrop stems from Big Tech companies such as OpenAI and Google’s DeepMind calling for more regulation, warning of catastrophic consequences if the AI levers were to meet the wrong hands — in other words, they argued that proprietary AI is safer than open source.
LeCun et al. disagree.
“Yes, openly available models come with risks and vulnerabilities — AI models can be abused by malicious actors or deployed by ill-equipped developers,” the letter acknowledged. “However, we have seen time and time again that the same holds true for proprietary technologies — and that increasing public access and scrutiny makes technology safer, not more dangerous. The idea that tight and proprietary control of foundational AI models is the only path to protecting us from society-scale harm is naive at best, dangerous at worst.”
On a personal level, LeCun has accused the big-name AI players of trying to secure “regulatory capture of the AI industry” by lobbying against open AI R&D. And on a company level, Meta is doing all it can to encourage collaboration and “openness,” recently partnering with Hugging Face to launch a new startup accelerator designed to spur adoption of open source AI models.
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3793
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How the OpenAI fiasco could bolster Meta and the ‘open AI’ movement
LeCun et al. disagree.
“Yes, openly available models come with risks and vulnerabilities — AI models can be abused by malicious actors or deployed by ill-equipped developers,” the letter acknowledged. “However, we have seen time and time again that the same holds true for proprietary technologies — and that increasing public access and scrutiny makes technology safer, not more dangerous. The idea that tight and proprietary control of foundational AI models is the only path to protecting us from society-scale harm is naive at best, dangerous at worst.”
On a personal level, LeCun has accused the big-name AI players of trying to secure “regulatory capture of the AI industry” by lobbying against open AI R&D. And on a company level, Meta is doing all it can to encourage collaboration and “openness,” recently partnering with Hugging Face to launch a new startup accelerator designed to spur adoption of open source AI models.
But OpenAI was — up until last week, at least — still the AI darling everyone wanted to dance with.
|
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How the OpenAI fiasco could bolster Meta and the ‘open AI’ movement
“Yes, openly available models come with risks and vulnerabilities — AI models can be abused by malicious actors or deployed by ill-equipped developers,” the letter acknowledged. “However, we have seen time and time again that the same holds true for proprietary technologies — and that increasing public access and scrutiny makes technology safer, not more dangerous. The idea that tight and proprietary control of foundational AI models is the only path to protecting us from society-scale harm is naive at best, dangerous at worst.”
On a personal level, LeCun has accused the big-name AI players of trying to secure “regulatory capture of the AI industry” by lobbying against open AI R&D. And on a company level, Meta is doing all it can to encourage collaboration and “openness,” recently partnering with Hugging Face to launch a new startup accelerator designed to spur adoption of open source AI models.
But OpenAI was — up until last week, at least — still the AI darling everyone wanted to dance with. Countless startups and scale-ups have built businesses atop OpenAI’s proprietary GPT-X large language models (LLMs), and over the weekend hundreds of OpenAI customers reportedly started contacting OpenAI’s rivals, which include Anthropic, Google and Cohere, concerned that their own businesses might be impacted if OpenAI was to disintegrate overnight.
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3795
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How the OpenAI fiasco could bolster Meta and the ‘open AI’ movement
And on a company level, Meta is doing all it can to encourage collaboration and “openness,” recently partnering with Hugging Face to launch a new startup accelerator designed to spur adoption of open source AI models.
But OpenAI was — up until last week, at least — still the AI darling everyone wanted to dance with. Countless startups and scale-ups have built businesses atop OpenAI’s proprietary GPT-X large language models (LLMs), and over the weekend hundreds of OpenAI customers reportedly started contacting OpenAI’s rivals, which include Anthropic, Google and Cohere, concerned that their own businesses might be impacted if OpenAI was to disintegrate overnight.
Over-reliance
The panic has been palpable. But there are precedents from elsewhere in the technology sphere, perhaps most notably that of the cloud computing industry, which became renowned for the way it locked companies in to centralized, vortex-like silos.
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3796
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How the OpenAI fiasco could bolster Meta and the ‘open AI’ movement
And on a company level, Meta is doing all it can to encourage collaboration and “openness,” recently partnering with Hugging Face to launch a new startup accelerator designed to spur adoption of open source AI models.
But OpenAI was — up until last week, at least — still the AI darling everyone wanted to dance with. Countless startups and scale-ups have built businesses atop OpenAI’s proprietary GPT-X large language models (LLMs), and over the weekend hundreds of OpenAI customers reportedly started contacting OpenAI’s rivals, which include Anthropic, Google and Cohere, concerned that their own businesses might be impacted if OpenAI was to disintegrate overnight.
Over-reliance
The panic has been palpable. But there are precedents from elsewhere in the technology sphere, perhaps most notably that of the cloud computing industry, which became renowned for the way it locked companies in to centralized, vortex-like silos.
“Part of the frenzy around the future of OpenAI is due to too many startups over-relying on their proprietary models,” Luis Ceze, University of Washington computer science professor and OctoML CEO, told TechCrunch in an emailed statement.
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3797
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How the OpenAI fiasco could bolster Meta and the ‘open AI’ movement
But OpenAI was — up until last week, at least — still the AI darling everyone wanted to dance with. Countless startups and scale-ups have built businesses atop OpenAI’s proprietary GPT-X large language models (LLMs), and over the weekend hundreds of OpenAI customers reportedly started contacting OpenAI’s rivals, which include Anthropic, Google and Cohere, concerned that their own businesses might be impacted if OpenAI was to disintegrate overnight.
Over-reliance
The panic has been palpable. But there are precedents from elsewhere in the technology sphere, perhaps most notably that of the cloud computing industry, which became renowned for the way it locked companies in to centralized, vortex-like silos.
“Part of the frenzy around the future of OpenAI is due to too many startups over-relying on their proprietary models,” Luis Ceze, University of Washington computer science professor and OctoML CEO, told TechCrunch in an emailed statement. “It’s dangerous to put all your chips in one basket — we saw that in the early cloud days which led to companies shifting to multi-cloud and hybrid environments.”
On the surface, Microsoft is currently looking like the biggest winner amidst the OpenAI turmoil, as it was already apparently looking to reduce its reliance on OpenAI even though it remains once of its major shareholders.
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3798
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How the OpenAI fiasco could bolster Meta and the ‘open AI’ movement
Over-reliance
The panic has been palpable. But there are precedents from elsewhere in the technology sphere, perhaps most notably that of the cloud computing industry, which became renowned for the way it locked companies in to centralized, vortex-like silos.
“Part of the frenzy around the future of OpenAI is due to too many startups over-relying on their proprietary models,” Luis Ceze, University of Washington computer science professor and OctoML CEO, told TechCrunch in an emailed statement. “It’s dangerous to put all your chips in one basket — we saw that in the early cloud days which led to companies shifting to multi-cloud and hybrid environments.”
On the surface, Microsoft is currently looking like the biggest winner amidst the OpenAI turmoil, as it was already apparently looking to reduce its reliance on OpenAI even though it remains once of its major shareholders. But Facebook’s parent Meta could also stand to benefit, as businesses pursue multi-modal strategies or models with a more “open” ethos embedded.
|
3799
|
How the OpenAI fiasco could bolster Meta and the ‘open AI’ movement
But there are precedents from elsewhere in the technology sphere, perhaps most notably that of the cloud computing industry, which became renowned for the way it locked companies in to centralized, vortex-like silos.
“Part of the frenzy around the future of OpenAI is due to too many startups over-relying on their proprietary models,” Luis Ceze, University of Washington computer science professor and OctoML CEO, told TechCrunch in an emailed statement. “It’s dangerous to put all your chips in one basket — we saw that in the early cloud days which led to companies shifting to multi-cloud and hybrid environments.”
On the surface, Microsoft is currently looking like the biggest winner amidst the OpenAI turmoil, as it was already apparently looking to reduce its reliance on OpenAI even though it remains once of its major shareholders. But Facebook’s parent Meta could also stand to benefit, as businesses pursue multi-modal strategies or models with a more “open” ethos embedded.
“Open source today offers a wide variety of models for companies to essentially diversify,” Ceze added.
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