⚙️ Former OpenAI board member reveals why they fired Sam Altman

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Good morning. The world is feeling like a bit of a crazy place at the moment, so I wanted to take a second here to say that I love trees. The highlight of most of my days is my mid-afternoon walk, because at the halfway mark, there is a regal sentinel of an old oak tree and it never fails to make me smile.

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In today’s newsletter: 

Former OpenAI board member reveals why they fired Sam Altman

Former OpenAI board member Helen Toner on Tuesday unveiled many of the specifics surrounding the company’s failed ouster of CEO Sam Altman last year. 

The details: 

Two OpenAI executives then came to the board in October 2023. These executives — complete with documentation of Altman’s behavior — detailed the “toxic atmosphere” that Altman was creating and said he wasn’t “the right person to lead the company to AGI.” 

My take: To me, this just feels like even more evidence that OpenAI is not a place for responsible AI development. And that Altman is a businessman, not a visionary. And that the most dangerous element of AI is that it has become a business. 

OpenAI defended Altman and the company in a statement but didn’t provide additional comment to TDV.

You can listen to the full interview here. 

Apple plans to combine privacy with genAI

Earlier this year, I chatted with Deepwater Management’s Gene Munster about Apple and its ventures in generative AI. He said that, though Apple has the ability to build the best model out there, the company won’t do it because of its commitment to data privacy. 

The company, however, is seemingly trying to create the best of both worlds … in other words, make its customers and shareholders equally happy.  

Why it matters: This method, if possible and scalable, will enable Apple to employ cloud-based applications that are less vulnerable to hackers, thus opening up more options for explorations within generative AI without going against its privacy-first mission.  

Apple didn’t respond to a request for comment. 

My thoughts: I imagine we’ll hear more about this during WWDC. While secure chips sound great, I worry that this will provide more of an illusion of privacy than the real thing as a way for Apple to pursue genAI without upsetting its customer base. 

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Investment firm believes Grok will be 1 of 4 models to ‘power the Western world’

Deepwater also joined in on xAI’s $6 billion Series B round — Munster said in a blog post that Deepwater believes there will only be four “primary proprietary foundation models that will effectively power the Western World.” 

The reasoning behind this viewpoint comes down to “infrastructure, data and distribution.” But Munster believes that Grok’s access to real-time data through Twitter will give it an edge — both in the quality and quantity of data — over the competition. 

Well, that, plus the “Elon factor,” specifically, his “deep pockets,” which can fund the expensive venture that is generative AI. 

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More media companies are bowing to OpenAI

OpenAI on Wednesday announced two more content licensing partnerships with prominent media brands: Vox Media (the company behind the fantastic The Verge) and The Atlantic. 

Like most of the previous partnerships OpenAI has announced, the fiscal details remain under lock and key, but the general rules of the road here are pretty much the same; both companies are entering into a “partnership” with OpenAI, where they will get to use OpenAI’s tech & OpenAI will get to legally train its models on their content. 

The dominoes are falling: These two media heavyweights are only the latest to agree to a content-licensing agreement with OpenAI. News Corp (the company behind Wall Street Journal) agreed to a deal — reportedly worth $250 million over five years — last week. Dotdash Meredith, Axel Springer and the Financial Times have also signed similar agreements. 

At the same time, OpenAI announced a partnership with the World Association of News Publishers to launch an AI accelerator program for newsrooms around the world. 

My thoughts: In a world where the business of journalism is already crumbling, legitimizing the content woodchippers that are AI companies will certainly not help. Perhaps I’m a little old-school, but these partnerships also feel wrong; at the Washington Post, for example, “democracy dies in darkness.” OpenAI just wants free reign to build AGI & reel in all the cash they can in the process. These do not feel compatible.

As Jessica Lessin, the incredible founder of The Information, wrote in an essay featured in The Atlantic (how’s that for irony) just a few days ago: Media publishers “are trading their own hard-earned credibility for a little cash from the companies that are simultaneously undervaluing them and building products quite clearly intended to replace them.”

These agreements are pushing the industry out onto an even narrower ledge. Only for some reason, the folks running these companies have been enticed into looking up at the hyped technological possibilities (or maybe it’s the millions in sorely needed cash) being offered by OpenAI & its peers instead of looking down at the rug being pulled out beneath their feet.

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-Ian Krietzberg, Editor-in-Chief, The Deep View