The Morning After: Microsoft recruits recently fired OpenAI CEO, Sam Altman
OpenAI’s board of directors announced Friday it had fired CEO Sam Altman. But he’s doing okay. By Monday morning, he had joined Microsoft “to lead a new advanced AI research team,” according to the company.
Altman cofounded OpenAI with Elon Musk in 2015 as a nonprofit and served as the CEO for the for-profit arm since 2019. He was originally fired from OpenAI over “a breakdown in communication between Sam and the board,” according to an internal staff memo. Several key members also resigned, including co-founder Greg Brockman (who will now also join Microsoft) along with a few senior researchers. “Dozens” of OpenAI employees reportedly announced internally they’d be quitting too, with some expressing interest in joining a potential new Altman startup.
According to Bloomberg, the board had reportedly considered reversing Altman’s firing, though the ousted exec wanted the existing board to resign and issue a public apology — and I fully endorse all this drama, if true.
The company did not apologize, however.
— Mat Smith
You can get these reports delivered daily direct to your inbox. Subscribe right here!
The biggest stories you might have missed
Apple will offer RCS support starting in 2024
Alan Wake II is great, but it doesn’t need guns
Stadium card stunts and the art of programming a crowd
The Last Of Us Part II Remastered is coming to PS5 next year
What is RCS and how is it different from SMS and iMessage?
Apple will finally support it next year.
Following the news that iPhones will support Rich Communication Services next year, what exactly is RCS? Well, positioned as a next-generation replacement for SMS and MMS, it adds modern features you may already use on WhatsApp, including read receipts and the ability to send high-resolution images and more. We wrestle with what this means, and how iMessage fits into it all.
Nothing pulls its iMessage-compatible Chats app
The Sunbird-based app, which was still in beta, has been removed from the Play Store.
It’s a weird week for messaging and texts. Nothing has pulled the beta of its new messaging app, Nothing Chats. The company touted the Sunbird-based app as the answer to the longstanding Android versus Apple texting woes, supporting RCS and iMessage. However, critics voiced concerns over the security risks workarounds like this bring. Nothing Chats does not have end-to-end encryption, and 9to5Google noted attachments sent by other users could easily be accessed in plain text.
SpaceX loses another Starship and Super Heavy rocket
There was a double explosion during testing.
SpaceX's second test flight of its Starship spacecraft — which it hopes will eventually ferry humans to the Moon and Mars — ended in an explosion Saturday morning, minutes after taking off from the company's spaceport in Boca Chica, Texas. After completing stage separation, when the Super Heavy booster detached itself from Starship, the rocket's first stage exploded. Starship, however, continued for several more minutes, with a faint explosion heard around the eight-minute mark. Unlike its first test, Starship was able to reach space this time. The company is framing it as a success, even if it did… explode.
The best Black Friday Deals we’ve found so far
From Amazon, Walmart, Target and more!
We’ve rounded up the best Black Friday deals on tech we’ve tested, and we expect many of the live deals to run through to Cyber Monday. As a taster, we’re already seeing record lows on iPads, wireless earbuds, PS5 controllers, Xbox consoles, Sonos gear, smart TVs and more.
This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/the-morning-after-microsoft-recruits-recently-fired-openai-ceo-sam-altman-121523955.html?src=rss
OpenAI’s board of directors announced Friday it had fired CEO Sam Altman. But he’s doing okay. By Monday morning, he had joined Microsoft “to lead a new advanced AI research team,” according to the company. Altman cofounded OpenAI with Elon Musk in 2015 as a nonprofit and served as the…
