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The cast in the first act of “Doomers,” which depicts a fictional version of a “war room” following Seth’s ousting as CEO of MindMesh.Image Credits:Rebecca Bellan
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The illumination dim as five actors took their place around a board on a makeshift stage in a New York City art gallery turned theater for the night . wine-coloured and water fall through the cozy space as the house — pack with media — sat to witness the premiere of “ Doomers , ” Matthew Gasda ’s latest play that is broadly speaking based onSam Altman ’s ouster as CEO of OpenAIin November 2023 .
The manoeuvre novelise events that take place after OpenAI ’s cobalt - founder and former chief scientist Ilya Sutskever informed Altman he was fired — a decisiveness the control panel made overconcerns that the CEOwas bollix up AI safety and engage in opprobrious , toxic behaviour . Despite the obvious punctilious research that went into Gasda ’s word picture of that night , the playwright tell TechCrunch his goal was n’t to make a documentary , but rather to employ that setting as a microcosm for the bang-up philosophic questions of AI safe and alliance .
human have for millennia created myth and lore around humanity ’s next groovy design and the risks of pursuing them . Like Prometheus stealing fire and Oppenheimer splitting the atom , humanity ca n’t resist the lure of its own inventions . With Gasda ’s drama , the fine art are now weighing in on the philosophic debate around rapid technological excogitation — cementing technology and its baron into the zeitgeist .
“ The humans , the nontextual matter , we can say something about this , ” Gasda secernate TechCrunch . “ We ’re maybe toothless financially and toothless technologically , but we ’re not toothless in the mode that we have the right to present this earth as much as anyone else . ”
In Gasda ’s play , the fellowship is called MindMesh , and the egotistical , infantile , spurned CEO is named Seth .
The first act happen in Seth ’s “ war room ” as he and those close to him debate the merit of the plank ’s ouster , what their next steps should be , and whether the CEO is veracious to tenaciously pursue such society - altering technology . The second routine takes place in MindMesh ’s boardroom and outline the various fears among its phallus , including that the fresh ousted Seth might take retribution on those who cheat on him , and that “ we ’re gon na get wiped out by a challenger metal money . ”
The central stress of the play is one that ’s playing out on the world point today — the existential threat of AI versus the existential promise of it .
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“I was fired for creating miracles”
Gasda say he write 35 drafts of this play , which he previewed for early audiences back in August . After more trip to San Francisco — and many Celsius - fueled composition sessions later — he arrived with the “ Doomers ” version that ’s premiering in New York this weekend through February and will be shown in San Francisco in March .
Gasda , who is known for writing and directing “ Dimes Square ” and “ Zoomers , ” severalise us he wanted to interpret eccentric archetypes and the psychology of a group of citizenry that do n’t necessarily “ engage in ego - musing . ”
The result is a roll of 10 , one-half of which are found on real people such as OpenAI CEO Sam Altman , former main engineer Mira Murati , and carbon monoxide - laminitis and president Greg Brockman . Murati serve as interim CEO during the executive reorganization . She left the company in September 2024 to start up her own ship’s company .
Other eccentric are based on Helen Toner and Adam D’Angelo , two former control panel members who voted to oust Altman ; and even Eliezer Yudkowsky , a researcher who has called for OpenAI to be shut down before itends the world .
Gasda say that Seth , the character free-base on Altman , is perhaps the most true - to - form in his depiction , but he also left way for fictional portraying of characters who those familiar with the Bay surface area will recognise — a callous VC who thinks smut is the time to come of AI , a freshly strike Gen Z millionaire founder , and a know - it - all lawyer from Stanford .
“ I want to extract enough sense of fidelity and sense of realism to make the play challenge and to make the characters effectively tangible enough that it wo n’t twist off people who actually bonk what bump or know what a board room at an AI society is like , ” Gasda said , noting that Altman was send out a copy of the play before it premiered .
The questions the cast public debate are apt : Should AI ontogenesis be sped up so “ we ” can win ; should its ontogenesis be slowed down to allow for better condom and alignment ; should it be shut down altogether to protect the human race ?
Through these debates , we see the pilot of each fibre meet : If there is a option between succeed and being moral , Seth , the character based on Altman , chooses to make headway .
He declares obstreperously that the circuit card fired him “ for create miracle , ” and contend that conjunction would be a “ poor consumption of a hallowed resourcefulness . ” It is human , he read , to follow up on excellence and append that MindMesh is the world ’s “ resistant system , ” a benevolentAmerican - made AGI that will protect us when the “ bad ” AGI goes rogue .
“ The only affair to do is outcompete and out - engine driver , ” Seth tell . Characters based on Mira Murati and Greg Brockman for the most part back Seth , even as he diss them , indicate for a vision of an AI utopia where technology cure disease and opens up interplanetary space travel . To which the safety ethician character , Alina , say , “ You make it sound like a jinni in a bottle . ”
Gasda sprinkles dry humour throughout “ Doomers ” — lighten up the humour of an otherwise tense subject field matter . He also introduces humor by capturing nuances of Silicon Valley culture . Polycules and ketamine were mentioned more than once , and at one point , the characters nonchalantly take mushrooms . There are reference to Waymo robotaxis , and at one point a character remarks , “ I fuck drinking is low position , but I really demand a drink , ” in reference point to the Cali - sober trend overtake the Bay .
Safety questions remain
The events depicted in this play took place almost 15 month ago , and already the conversation around AI has shifted as the backwash for domination outpaces questions of safety .
Altman ended upimmediately returning to powerafter OpenAI applied scientist endanger to relinquish en masse shot if he was n’t restore . A new board that is comfortable withOpenAI shift into a for - profit structurehas since consolidated under the CEO . Sutskever and Jan Leike , the co - trail on OpenAI ’s now - defunct superalignment team , havedefected . Other rubber - focused researchers whoraised concernsabout AI labs have also departed .
That has n’t hurt OpenAI .
The company is reportedly raising a $ 40 billion round that would prise itat $ 340 billion , while President Donald Trump prognosticate to protect AI from regulation as anew weapon raceagainst China heats up and Modern challenger , likeDeepSeek , enter the ring . In short , AI innovation is speed up , not slowing down , just as Seth ’s fictitious character wanted . The question everyone wait the response for is whether or not this is a good thing .
“ It ’s ugly to build God , ” Alina , the ethicist in the child’s play , allege . “ Because we ’re so ugly , and it ’s base on us . ”
