Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s court showdown will dish the dirt
Elon Musk and Sam Altman's court showdown will dish the dirt Might as well jump, as the poet David Lee Roth once said. | Image: Cath Virginia / The Verge Elon Musk cofounded OpenAI, and then flounced off in a huff when he wasn’t anointed CEO, leaving Sam Altman as the last power-hungry man standing. […]
THE PEOPLE DO NOT YEARN FOR AUTOMATION
THE PEOPLE DO NOT YEARN FOR AUTOMATION Today on Decoder, I want to lay out an idea that’s been banging around my head for weeks now as we’ve been reporting on AI and having conversations here on this show. I’ve been calling it software brain, and it’s a particular way of seeing the world that […]
Ordering with the Starbucks ChatGPT app was a true coffee nightmare
Ordering with the Starbucks ChatGPT app was a true coffee nightmare You just cannot convince me this is how people order coffee. | Image: Starbucks Venti iced coffee, light skim milk. That’s what I get at Starbucks. It is what I have gotten at Starbucks every time I’ve been to Starbucks for as long as […]
Ronan Farrow on Sam Altman’s ‘unconstrained’ relationship with the truth
Ronan Farrow on Sam Altman's 'unconstrained' relationship with the truth Today on Decoder, I’m talking with Ronan Farrow, one of the biggest stars of investigative reporting working today. He broke the Harvey Weinstein story, among many, many others. And just last week, he and co-author Andrew Marantz published an incredible deep-dive feature in The New […]
Sam Altman reportedly targeted in second attack
Sam Altman reportedly targeted in second attack Sam Altman was seemingly targeted by a second attack on Sunday morning, with two suspects arrested following a shooting at his Russian Hill residence, The San Francisco Standard reports. The suspects were arrested and charged with negligent discharge, according to a police report on the incident, citing surveillance […]
The AI code wars are heating up
The AI code wars are heating up This is The Stepback, a weekly newsletter breaking down one essential story from the tech world. For more on the AI coding and vibe-coding booms, follow David Pierce. The Stepback arrives in our subscribers’ inboxes at 8AM ET. Opt in for The Stepback here. How it started Writing […]
20-year-old man arrested for allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail at Sam Altman’s house
20-year-old man arrested for allegedly throwing a Molotov cocktail at Sam Altman's house San Francisco police have arrested a 20-year-old man suspected of throwing a Molotov cocktail at OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s Russian Hill house early Friday morning, The San Francisco Standard reports. The incident was caught on surveillance cameras shortly before 7AM ET. Later […]
Fear and loathing at OpenAI
Fear and loathing at OpenAI Sam Altman’s tenure at OpenAI has been… messy. Messy to the point where Altman was briefly fired from his role as CEO, only to be reinstated days later, at which point he began reshaping the organization permanently. This week, The New Yorker published a deep look at Altman, his time […]
Florida launches investigation into OpenAI
Florida launches investigation into OpenAI Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is launching an investigation into OpenAI over public safety and national security risks, as reported earlier by Reuters. In a statement on Thursday, Uthmeier says there are concerns that OpenAI’s data and technology are “falling into the hands of America’s enemies, such as the Chinese […]
The AI industry’s race for profits is now existential
The AI industry's race for profits is now existential Today on Decoder, let’s talk about the looming AI monetization cliff, and whether some of the biggest companies in the space can become real, profitable businesses before they careen right off it. My guest today is Hayden Field, who’s our senior AI reporter here at The […]