OpenAI kicked off an AI revolution with DALL-E and ChatGPT, making the organization the epicenter of the artificial intelligence boom. Led by CEO Sam Altman, OpenAI became a story unto itself when Altman was briefly fired and then brought back after pressure from staff and Microsoft, an investor and close partner.
Just like MKBHD in September, the OpenAI CEO has now canceled his Roadster preorder — or tried to, at least, given his email request bounced back. Altman said he understands delays, “but 7.5 years has felt like a long time to wait.” Using it to advance his feud with Elon Musk was probably a bonus.
An IPO could happen by “the second half of 2026,” Reuters reports, citing unnamed people. A potential 12-figure valuation would make OpenAI one of the most valuable publicly traded companies worldwide.
OpenAI just finished its for-profit restructuring and inked a new deal with Microsoft covering plans for hardware and AGI.
OpenAI’s video generator uses a system that’s supposed to help online platforms tag deepfakes — so why aren’t we seeing them?
It’s tough getting details about one of the tech world’s most complicated relationships, even for investors.
Microsoft’s latest annual report simply folds losses from its multi-billion dollar stake in OpenAI into a $4.7 billion expense line called “other, net,” according to The Wall Street Journal. Other important details are equally vague.
The team behind Software Applications Incorporated sold its Workflow app to Apple in 2017, which later became Shortcuts. Now the startup, along with its AI interface for the Mac called Sky, is joining OpenAI.
OpenAI says it plans to “bring Sky’s deep macOS integration and product craft into ChatGPT.”
The company reportedly requested a full list of attendees from the memorial of the 16-year-old who died by suicide after increasingly confiding in ChatGPT, according to lawyers for his family, who are suing OpenAI. The request covered “all documents relating to memorial services or events in the honour of the decedent including but not limited to any videos or photographs taken, or eulogies given . . . as well as invitation or attendance lists or guestbooks,” the FT reported, citing a document.
OpenAI’s new browser is great at providing AI-generated responses, but not so great at searches.
That means you can make AI videos with reusable characters of things like “your dog, guinea pig, favorite stuffed toy, and pretty much anything else you want,” according to OpenAI’s head of Sora. The app is also getting “basic” video editing capabilities, and an Android version will launch “soon.”
Photos of the UAE datacenter construction site released Thursday show the footprints of the big buildings that OpenAI and its Stargate partners, Oracle, NVIDIA, Cisco, and SoftBank say will house 16-gigawatts of compute power for everything from curing cancer to sexting. Thus far, construction of the first 200 megawatts is “well underway” to meet the 2026 deadline.
As OpenAI’s Sam Altman reveals the company is ready to let ChatGPT sext with verified adult users, one commenter points out that this may create some ambiguity in the future.
Lewise:
Soon we’ll need some disambiguation when OpenAI reports how many subs it has
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OpenAI wants to spend more than $1 trillion on its quest to build superintelligent AI, according to the Financial Times.
The figure dwarfs the roughly $13 billion it takes in each year, so the startup is counting on new shopping tools, consumer gadgets, online advertising, sales from Sora, and government deals to get it there. “Creative” debt arrangements are also on the table.
[Financial Times]
After rolling out Instant Checkout for Etsy purchases in September, OpenAI is expanding the feature to Walmart, allowing you to complete your purchase on the retail giant’s website from within ChatGPT.
