He was praised and respected for his outstanding knowledge, not only of theology and philosophy, but also of the natural sciences, medicine, rhetoric and poetry, all of which earned him the epithet the Philosopher (o Φιλόσοφος).
He divided the rest of the inhabitants of Trebizond into three classes: the first became the servants and slaves of Mehmed and his followers; the second were transported to Constantinople to settle there; and the third part were exiled from the city.
The traditional story says that David received a letter from his niece, Theodora, the wife of Uzun Hassan of the Ak Koyunlu, asking that one of his sons or his nephew Alexios be sent to her.
He was granted land by the Ottoman Sultan and one of his sons, named after Mehmed, was charged with responsibility for the Greek scriptoria in the Empire.
Amiroutzes also punished the high ecclesiastical official, whom he unsuccessfully tried to bribe to assist him convince the patriarch, by having the man's nose slit.