OpenAI’s board appointment of two rhetorical graybeards—tech veteran Bret Taylor and, for some reason, former U.S. Treasury Secretary Larry Summer—mercifully helped avert its pre-Thanksgiving leadership crisis. It has more board vacancies to fill (but not with investors), governance rules to set and a CEO to investigate.I’d pose another priority: Deepen OpenAI’s roster of experienced executives, not just its board members. There’s a serious disconnect between OpenAI’s early accomplishments and the... Read more ›
0
Even cybersecurity startups are starting to use influencers to market their products.Aura, a five-year-old cybersecurity startup last valued at $2.5 billion, started working with influencers about two years ago as a way to raise awareness about its AI-powered product that protects families against online fraud, such as identity theft. In 2024, Aura plans to grow its influencer marketing budget by more than 50% from $15 million to $20 million this... Read more ›
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Elon Musk’s SpaceX is parachuting in to rescue one of its vendors from bankruptcy. The rocket company is acquiring Pioneer Aerospace—which makes parachutes for space vehicles as they return to Earth—for $2.2 million, according to a Florida bankruptcy filing by the parent company of Pioneer. The acquisition, which was approved by a judge on November 22, hasn’t been previously reported. It’s SpaceX’s first publicly known acquisition since 2021, when the... Read more ›
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OpenAI’s revamped board of directors doesn’t plan to include representatives from outside investors, according to a person familiar with the situation. It’s a sign that the board will prioritize safety practices ahead of investor returns. The new board hasn’t been officially seated and things could change. But the person said Microsoft and other shareholders, such as Khosla Ventures, Thrive Capital and Sequoia Capital, aren’t expected to be offered a seat... Read more ›
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This might not be at the top of Sam Altman’s priority list now that he’s back at OpenAI, but the CEO may soon have to deal with a looming threat to the business. Customers, such as fintech startup Ramp, are using OpenAI models like GPT-4 to customize cheaper-to-run open-source alternatives. Technically, that behavior goes against OpenAI’s terms of use but OpenAI doesn’t seem too bothered by it—yet. But if this... Read more ›
0
Twilio CEO Jeff Lawson might have breathed a sigh of relief when the leader of tech investing at Legion Partners, an activist hedge fund that had agitated for change at Lawson’s software company, left for another fund. But the investor picked up where he left off, leading his new employer, Anson Funds, to buy a stake in Twilio. Now Anson is urging the company to sell itself or divest its... Read more ›
0
After a week of OpenAI and Thanksgiving, we’re back to regularly scheduled tech programming. That means Elon Musk is once again all over the news, this time visiting Israel in what appears to be an effort to counter perceptions, rekindled by this tweet from two weeks ago, that he is antisemitic. Not surprisingly, we got the respectable version of Musk, as demonstrated in this video of him—escorted by Israeli Prime... Read more ›
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This morning, I published a deep dive into TikTok’s push into longer videos. While TikTok popularized 15-second clips, last month it began testing videos that are 15 minutes. It’s also incentivizing creators to post longer videos with a new creator fund that only rewards videos that are more than a minute. And it’s been testing full-screen horizontal videos, a big departure from the vertically oriented videos it popularized.The fact that... Read more ›
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OpenAI’s boardroom drama was barely resolved on Thanksgiving Eve last week when forums and news sites exploded in speculation at the implications of a scientific breakthrough that the company was reported to have made. A Reuters report suggested this discovery could “threaten humanity,” although our article was a tad more circumspect (you can read it here).The bottom line is that the breakthrough enabled senior OpenAI researchers to build a model... Read more ›
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YouTube, Instagram and other apps have spent years trying to compete against the TikTok juggernaut by offering short videos resembling the 15-second clips that made TikTok famous. Now TikTok is stepping up a push to get its creators to make longer videos like the ones found on other apps. In late October, TikTok invited dozens of creators to its New York office for a private event aimed at mobilizing them... Read more ›
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For automakers, 2023 began with chronic shortages and soaring prices of key metals used in batteries. Electric vehicles were in short supply and consumers seemed prepared to buy any EV they could get their hands on almost regardless of the price.The year could hardly be ending more differently: The world is unexpectedly awash in battery-grade lithium and nickel, pushing down their prices 76% and 44%, respectively, year to date. Carmakers—worried... Read more ›
2
In the final week of October, over 3,000 crypto believers descended into woods on the outskirts of Amsterdam, arriving by shuttle bus to a gritty campus emblazoned in purple neon lights. Gaggles of hoodie-clad developers wandered the halls of industrial warehouses packed with lavish lounges, ball pits and barista stands where attendees could only buy coffee with crypto wallet–enabled wristbands. The annual Breakpoint conference organized by the Solana Foundation, overseer... Read more ›
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Hi, welcome to your Weekend.For the reporters and editors at The Information, the Thanksgiving holiday couldn’t have come at a better time: We needed to sleep! The same is undoubtedly true for the staff at OpenAI, who watched their CEO and president get whacked; an interim CEO promoted and then demoted; another interim CEO hired and met with “f— you” emojis on Slack; and a board of directors whittled from... Read more ›
0
If we learned anything over Thanksgiving, it’s how much of an opportunity there is for Disney chief Bob Iger to turn ESPN into a streaming hub for all sports. If you tried to catch the three NFL games on Thanksgiving Day without the benefit of cable TV (or an online version of cable, like YouTube TV), you would have discovered—as my household did—that it’s not possible. While two of Thursday’s... Read more ›
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With all of the turmoil afoot this week in Silicon Valley, you may have lost sight of what really matters: its Black Friday, folks! As in past years, The Information’s highly discerning staffers have been busy testing out gear that we know for certain will satisfy holiday recipients. From the technologically assisted (a golf tracker that records every shot) to the blissfully analog (VC–backed sweaters, anyone?), we’re bringing you the... Read more ›
0
Welcome back!What a week for tech news, and what a week for The Information’s Org Charts! The OpenAI and Binance shake-ups prompted major reorganizations at the biggest companies in artificial intelligence and crypto, respectively, all of which we’ve reflected in the companies’ Org Charts. At OpenAI, Sam Altman is back as CEO after the board fired him last week. In the four days he was gone, OpenAI had two interim... Read more ›
0
In March, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency—the powerful federal banking regulator—tapped Prashant Kumar Bhardwaj as the first person to lead its mission to police fintech firms and the banks that power them. On the surface, Bhardwaj seemed to be well qualified to be the OCC’s new deputy comptroller and chief financial technology officer. He had held a series of senior roles at big banks and consulting firms... Read more ›
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One day before he was fired by OpenAI’s board last week, Sam Altman alluded to a recent technical advance the company had made that allowed it to “push the veil of ignorance back and the frontier of discovery forward.” The cryptic remarks at the APEC CEO Summit went largely unnoticed as the company descended into turmoil. But some OpenAI employees believe Altman’s comments referred to an innovation by the company’s... Read more ›
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The OpenAI soap opera’s first season is over. And just in time for all involved—even reporters—to take a break for Thanksgiving. Their moods may vary. While many people, including executives, employees and investors in OpenAI, are surely thrilled the boardroom drama got resolved with Sam Altman’s reinstatement as CEO, doubtless a few aren’t so happy. Those would include Altman’s critics at OpenAI as well as the startup’s rivals, who you... Read more ›
0
The upcoming few days will be a test of TikTok’s recent, aggressive effort to expand into e-commerce. Recently I've gotten a taste of TikTok shopping. In a few words: it's seductive, as long as the discounts last.Overnight last month I realized the app had sneakily wedged a new TikTok Shop tab between my For You and Following page, and, after accidentally swiping left, I was suddenly scrolling through a deeply... Read more ›
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29.11.2024 03:41
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