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| Here's a look at today's Tech briefing: - Former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman is joining Microsoft after board ouster.
- Tech CEOs called to testify at Senate hearing about online child exploitation.
- Apple delays Vision Pro headset release to March.
- Cruise co-founder and CEO Kyle Vogt resigns amid safety concerns.
Beth
p/beth-duckett | |
| 1 | Microsoft has hired ex-OpenAI CEO Sam Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman to lead a new advanced AI research team. Altman's sudden firing from OpenAI on Friday shocked the tech world as well as Microsoft, a key OpenAI investor, sparking a weekend of uncertainty and speculation about the fate of the ChatGPT creator. More: - OpenAI's board ended Altman's employment on Friday following a "breakdown of communications."
- Reports said Ilya Sutskever, OpenAI's chief scientist, spearheaded a board revolt to oust Altman amid a culture clash between the two over the speed of AI commercialization.
- Soon after, supporters and investors, including Microsoft and Thrive Capital, pushed for Altman's reinstatement as CEO.
- However, talks between the parties failed, leading to OpenAI's announcement late Sunday that Altman would not be returning.
- Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella later revealed that Altman, Brockman, and some of their colleagues are joining the tech giant, while reaffirming Microsoft's commitment to its partnership with OpenAI.
- On Sunday, OpenAI appointed Emmett Shear, Twitch co-founder, as its interim CEO.
Zoom out: - Altman, 38, a founding co-chair of OpenAI, has been the face of the company since 2019, and his sudden departure sent shockwaves through the tech community.
- In the past year, he has testified before Congress and become a spokesman for the rapidly growing AI industry.
- Since his firing, OpenAI employees expressed strong support for Altman, with many posting on social media.
- Over 500 of OpenAI's 700-plus employees have threatened to resign in an open letter if Sutskever and other board members do not step down.
- Sutskever later wrote in a message that he "deeply regret[s] his participation in the board's actions" and "never intended to harm OpenAI."
What's next: - Shear, OpenAI's third CEO in days, stated that "the process and communications around Sam's removal has been handled very badly, which has seriously damaged our trust."
- He outlined a three-point plan including the hiring of an independent investigator to examine what led up to Altman's firing.
- Shear said he also plans to reform OpenAI's management and leadership team.
- "I'm not crazy enough to take this job without board support for commercializing our awesome models," Shear said.
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| 2 | | The CEOs of major tech companies are expected to testify at a Dec. 6 Senate hearing about online child sexual exploitation. The Senate Judiciary Committee has issued subpoenas to the CEOs of Discord, Snap, and X, formerly Twitter, after their "repeated refusals" to appear at the hearing. The committee expects voluntary testimony from Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and TikTok's Shou Zi Chew. More: - In a joint statement, Senate Judiciary Committee chair Dick Durbin and its top Republican Lindsey Graham announced plans to compel the executives to testify about their failures in protecting children online.
- "Hearing from the CEOs of some of the world's largest social media companies will help inform the Committee's efforts to address the crisis of online child sexual exploitation," they wrote in the statement.
- Subpoenas have now been issued to CEOs of Discord, Snap, and X.
- According to the committee, X and Discord declined to accept subpoenas on their CEO's behalf, forcing the committee to ask the U.S. Marshals Service to serve them personally.
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| 3 | | Apple's planned January launch for Apple Vision Pro is now delayed, with a likely release in March of next year, writes Bloomberg's Mark Gurman. Apple Vision Pro, the company's first mixed-reality headset, was unveiled at its June developer conference. Expected in 2024, analysts project Apple to ship 350,000 devices in year one, surging to 1.48 million in year two. 
Details: Gurman reports the delay in the $3,499 headset's launch is due to Apple finalizing distribution plans and conducting last-minute device testing. The headset will debut in the U.S. at first, with plans to expand to Canada, the U.K., and other markets by the end of the year. Zoom out: Meanwhile, some Apple retail employees have undergone Vision Pro training at Apple's HQ and will train others at their stores. Flagship stores will feature dedicated "Vision Pro" areas for people to try out the headsets, while others will have a few units for customer demos. | | | |
| 4 | | Cruise co-founder and CEO Kyle Vogt has resigned from the GM-owned company following a voluntary recall of 950 of its robotaxis. General Motors has since appointed Mo Elshenawy, formerly the executive VP of engineering at Cruise, as president and CTO, with no replacement named for the CEO role. More: - In an X post, Vogt said the startup he launched in his garage 10 years ago "has given over 250,000 driverless rides across several cities, with each ride inspiring people with a small taste of the future."
- He did not provide a reason for his resignation.
- Cruise recently recalled 950 of its robotaxis and temporarily halted all vehicle operations on public roads.
- The move came after the California DMV suspended Cruise's permits for deployment and testing for its self-driving vehicles after an Oct. 2 incident.
- In the incident in San Francisco, one of Cruise's cars struck and dragged pedestrian who had already been hit by another car.
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| 5 | U.K.-based phone maker Nothing has removed the "Chats" beta app from the Google Play store, citing a need for bug fixes and postponing its launch "until further notice." The app would allow Nothing's Android phone owners to text iMessage users via a blue bubble, offering a workaround in the "Android versus Apple" texting wars. More: - Developed in collaboration with Sunbird's universal messaging platform, the Nothing Chats app aimed to bring iMessage functionality to Android users, specifically Nothing Phone (2) users.
- However, the app was removed post-launch after a blog post highlighted that messages sent through Sunbird's system lacked the promised end-to-end encryption and the app was not secure.
- Texts.blog pointed out that both Sunbird and the Chats app require users to share their Apple ID info, which is then authenticated using a virtual machine running MacOS on their servers.
- Further investigation by the Texts.com team revealed that all outgoing texts were leaked to a sentry server in plaintext.
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| 6 | | Messaging platform Discord announced it will shut down its experimental AI chatbot, Clyde, by Dec. 1. Discord first introduced Clyde, which runs on OpenAI technology, back in March. During its testing phase, the chatbot could respond to questions and engage in conversations with Discord users. More: - Discord did not provide a reason for the shutdown.
- A spokesperson said Clyde has been "an experiment shared with a small percentage of servers," and Discord is always working to launch new experiences and features.
- By Dec. 1, those who had access to the bot will no longer be able to use it in DMs or server chats, the company said.
Zoom out: | | | |
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- Apple is expected to incorporate its own in-house custom modem into cellular MacBook models as early as 2028, according to Bloomberg's Mark Gurman.
- Some YouTube users are reporting a five-second delay when loading videos in non-Chrome browsers like Mozilla Firefox and Microsoft Edge.
- UnitedHealth Group faces a lawsuit for allegedly employing a flawed AI algorithm to unfairly deny Medicare patients' rehab care coverage.
- Meta has launched Quest For Business, a program offering mass device management for its VR headsets, replacing Oculus For Business.
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 | AI and technology writer | | Beth is an editor and writer of Inside's AI and Tech newsletters, with a career spanning journalism since 2007. She has written for publications including The Arizona Republic and USA Today and authored a book on the solar industry in 2016. Reach her at Beth.Duckett@yahoo.com. | | This newsletter was edited by Eduardo Garcia | |
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