Tech Rundown: What happened at OpenAI?

Hello there,

Here’s today tech rundown — everything you need to know from the world of tech in 3 minutes!

In today’s email:

• What happened at OpenAI?

• Clean airplane fuel raises big money

• Doritos: the silent tech heroes

The Lead Story

Disclaimer: Update is as of Tuesday morning; things may will change

AI moves quickly, but the speed at which events unfolded at OpenAI this weekend was dizzying.

To recap:

• Nov 17: OpenAI’s (OAI) board votes to remove Sam Altman as CEO

• Nov 17: Chair board Greg Brockman removed from the board; resigns

• Nov 18: Irate investors pressure board to reconsider…and seemingly do

• Nov 19: Altman goes to OAI’s offices to see if there is a path to re-join, however no deal materialises

• Nov 20: OAI appoints Emmett Shear (Twitch founder) as interim CEO

• Nov 20: Altman and Brockman join Microsoft to lead new AI team

• Nov 20: Over 600 employees threaten to quit OAI if board is not removed

All of that in 3 days.

There have been lots of theories as to why Altman was forced out. The leading hypothesis is there was a strong disagreement over Altman’s aggressive growth ambitions vs the board’s more cautious approach.

More information will come to light, though on first glance it seems like an inadequate reason for such a hasty removal.

The early winners appear to be:

• Google/other AI companies: Given the internal strife & uncertainty at OpenAI, many of its competitors will see this as an ideal opportunity to gain precious ground

• Microsoft: The tech heavyweight was able to hedge near perfectly — they remained on good terms with OAI to start, before bringing the big names in-house when a reconciliation couldn’t be reached

• Twitter: Despite all the challenges in the Musk-era, the social media site remains the place-to-be for breaking news. Chaos loves a crowd

The early losers appear to be:

• OAI board: The board under-estimated the reaction to Altman’s removal, and the ire towards its 4 deciding members is at a fever pitch. That said, the corporate structure that left Altman and others powerless as the events unfolded is of their own doing.

• OpenAI staff/equity holders: A planned sale of employee stock at a valuation of $86b is now in jeopardy.

• Microsoft: Undoubtedly, they had a good day. But it’s still mind-boggling how a company can invest $10b+ in a startup and not have a say in leadership decisions.

Where does Sam Altman sit in all this? Well, I think it’s a wash for him.

Yes, he has a legion of loyalists that moved mountains to get him close to re-joining. Moreover, he gets to continue his technological pursuits with a familiar, deep-pocketed partner at Microsoft

But he also lost a company he created and grew. A company that sky-rocked to prominence in the past year and was the darling of the tech world.

Atlman will fit in nicely at Microsoft, and have lots of leeway, but it won’t be his company. And for any real founder, it’s hard to watch as others lead a company you’ve sacrificed so greatly for.

More Tech News

• Baba Balks: Alibaba cancels proposed IPO for cloud business, which was estimated to fetch a $60b valuation (more)

• Meta Momentum: For this first time in awhile, Meta’s apps (FB, IG) are growing faster than TikTok — in downloads & usage (more)

• N-Olympic Spirit: Paris council rebukes proposed flying taxis for ultra-wealthy at next year’s Olympics (more)

• YouTube Clone: YouTube shows off an AI tool that will let users create songs from famous artists with a single prompt (more)

Startup Fundraising

• SkyNRG develops sustainable airplane fuel, and works with the likes of Boeing and KLM. Raised $190m (more)

• Crisp is a supermarket app that expects to be profitable by H2-2024. Raised $38m (more)

• Deep Sky is building facilities that help remove carbon from the atmosphere and store it underground. Raised $55m (more)

• Cytovale has developed a rapid diagnostic test to detect sepsis, which kills 350,000 in the US annually. Raised $84m (more)

• Tenet helps lower charging costs for EV owners, saving an average of $40/mo. Raised $10m (more)

Chart of the Day

Which apps live up to the hype

Distractions

• Doritos introduces groundbreaking crunch-cancellation tech

• Best and worst airports in the US, ranked

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