🗿 OpenAI Drama, Explained Like You’re 5

GM. We’re catching our collective tech bubble breath as Silicon Valley and the MSM have a full meltdown over the Altman-firing-unfiring. Whatever happened to “no-takesy-backsies”?

If you want to be humbled, ask your non-tech friends what they think of the Altman saga. I’ll give you a hint, they either don’t care or don’t know what you’re talking about.

But we’re going to give you a step-by-step (and skimmable) explanation anyway.

Without Further Ado. ☕ *knuckle cracks* ☕ Let’s get into it.

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Today’s Specials:

No FOMO News 📰 : Tether freezes $225M linked to trafficking 😓

NFT Power Rankings 🔥 : The Definitive NFT Tier List for 2023🔥

No FOMO 🗿 : The Altman-OpenAI Drama, Explained 🤓

You Raised? 💰 : Funding Report Presented by Web3 Leads 🤑

AI Intel 🤖 : Amazon Offering Free AI Courses 🧑‍🎓

The Sam-Altman-OpenAI Drama, Explained

(so you can sound smart at Thanksgiving)

🚀 Fired and Hired in 48 Hours:

In a weekend that felt like an AI thriller, Sam Altman, the face of OpenAI, got the boot from the board, only to land a gig at Microsoft within 48 hours. I know, confusing.

Microsoft's backing and vast resources now place Altman in an even more influential position, triggering waves of speculation. Here’s what we know…

🎭 OpenAI's Uncertain Future:

The aftermath? OpenAI's future is hanging in the balance. Trust between the board and the staff seems shattered, with an impending exodus of employees.

The drama unfolded shortly after OpenAI's first-ever developer conference, where they unveiled new, commercialized versions of their AI technology.

🕒 The Timeline of Turmoil:

Friday: Altman is abruptly fired over alleged trust issues – sending shockwaves through the tech world. Board tensions over aggressive AI development strategies begin to surface.

Saturday: Rumors of Altman's potential return and talks of an exodus for a new venture circulate across the media.

Sunday: Negotiations for Altman's return, mediated by Microsoft's Satya Nadella, hit a snag. Altman and Brockman officially join Microsoft's AI research group.

Monday: Emmett Shear steps in as OpenAI's new interim CEO. OpenAI employees demand board resignation, + reinstatement of Altman and Brockman (another OpenAI co-founder).

💼 New Faces, New Plans:

Shear, the former Twitch CEO, takes the reins at OpenAI and pledges an investigation into the events leading to Altman's firing. Altman hints at the possibility of returning to OpenAI, adding a twist to the M. Night Shyamalan-ian saga.

👥 Employee Uprising:

OpenAI staff revolt with an open letter demanding the board's resignation, Altman and Brockman's reinstatement, and a threat to jump ship to Microsoft. Altman, in a post, reassures unity and commitment among the team, hinting at an eventual resolution.

🔍 The Verge of More Drama:

As of Monday, The Verge reports the potential return of Altman and Brockman if the board members who fired them step down. Altman emphasizes commitment to OpenAI's continuity despite the ongoing turmoil, promising involvement alongside Nadella.

🚀 A Few More Updates:

From The Verge This Morning:

The Information reports that before interim CEO Emmett Shear took the job, OpenAI’s remaining board members offered it to two others: former GitHub CEO Nat Friedman and Scale AI CEO Alex Wang. Both turned it down. (Update: And in another report, it says board members also pursued the CEO of its competitor Anthropic, Dario Amodei, and proposed a merger between the two companies.)

From Business Insider there’s a report Ilya Sutskever gave employees two explanations for Altman’s firing: that he gave two people the same project and that he allegedly gave two board members different opinions about a member of personnel.

Finally, the Wall Street Journal writes that Sutskever, one of the board members who voted to fire Altman, switched to asking for Altman’s return “after an emotionally charged conversation with Anna Brockman, Greg Brockman’s wife” and notes he officiated their civil ceremony at OpenAI’s offices in 2019.

As the dust settles, keep an eye on further developments and how they might impact the tech landscape.

🔥  The Definitive NFT Tier List for 2023 🔥

No FOMO News 📰

• Crypto firm Tether says it has frozen $225 million linked to human trafficking (Reuters)

• US SEC sues Kraken crypto exchange over failure to register (Reuters)

• The active supply of Bitcoin and Ethereum is at record lows (The Block)

• Does Worldcoin Need a Reevaluation? Understanding Sam Altman’s Crypto-AI-UBI Experiment (CoinDesk)

• Crypto Boosted by Possible End to US Criminal Probe of Binance (Bloomberg)

• US regulators continue to discuss crypto: Law Decoded, Nov. 13–20 (Cointelegraph)

• First Mover Americas: Crypto-Friendly Javier Milei Wins Argentine Presidency (CoinDesk)

• Crypto exchange Bullish buys news website CoinDesk (Reuters)

AI Intel 🤖

• Amazon’s offering free courses on generative AI (TheVerge)

• Use of AI could create a four-day week for almost one-third of workers (Guardian)

• Nvidia stock closes at all-time high, a day before earnings (CNBC)

• UnitedHealth uses faulty AI to deny elderly patients medically necessary coverage, lawsuit claims (CBSNews)

• Zoom lifts annual results forecast as AI features boost demand (Reuters)

You Raised?💰

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4. $20M Seed for Ingonyama led by Walden Catalyst

5. $20M Private Round for Blast led by Paradigm + Standard Crypto

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