In a shock to the system, a billion-dollar Silicon Valley darling led by the former head of Silicon Valley’s most prestigious venture capital firm has decided that it’s time to make some money. OpenAI, the maker of ChatGPT and harbinger of AI’s world dominance, is restructuring from a nonprofit model to a for-profit model.

OpenAI started as a nonprofit in 2015 and later created a for-profit subsidiary. It long touted its non-profit status as a way to achieve its goals for “advanced digital intelligence” while remaining “unconstrained by a need to generate financial return.” With the proposed change, that all goes out the window, as the board will move into a minority ownership position and will relinquish full control to CEO Sam Altman.

Why make the change? “Nonprofit” isn’t an attractive label to investors who look exclusively for profit. Changing the structure opens the company to more investment: It reportedly received a fresh influx of $6.5 billion in VC money, putting its valuation at $150 billion.

And speaking of billions…the new structure would also give Altman an equity stake—something he previously eschewed because he “loved” what he did—rumored to be 7%, or roughly $10 billion. That would make him one of the richest people in the world.

But money won’t solve all of its problems. So many main characters are leaving OpenAI that it's starting to feel like Edmure Tully’s wedding.

• This week, three leadership figures announced they were leaving: CTO Mira Murati, CRO Bob McGrew, and research VP Barret Zoph.
• Earlier this year, several engineers and researchers quit over concerns about what they saw as OpenAI’s prioritization of money instead of safety.
• Of the 11 people who founded the company, just two remain: Altman and one other computer scientist.

Zoom out: Some experts see the restructuring as a response to the events of late last year, when the nonprofit board ousted Altman for a few days after it lost confidence in his leadership, and then, at the behest of its biggest investor (Microsoft), brought him back.—CC

NYC Mayor Eric Adams indicted on bribery and fraud charges. According to a federal indictment unsealed yesterday, Adams allegedly accepted illegal gifts from foreign parties, including at least one Turkish official. The gifts ranged from free flights on Turkish Airlines to rooms at luxury hotels and meals at high-end restaurants. In exchange, prosecutors allege that Adams pressured the New York Fire Department to sign off on a 36-story Turkish consulate building in midtown Manhattan despite safety concerns. A number of New York officials, including Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, called on Adams to resign. Gov. Kathy Hochul, who has the power to remove Adams from office, has not yet weighed in. Adams maintained his innocence during a raucous press conference, where he was met with hecklers.

US troops deployed to Cyprus amid fears of a wider Middle East war. Dozens of American soldiers were sent to the Mediterranean island country this week “out of an abundance of caution,” CNN reported, as tensions rise between Israel and Hezbollah in Lebanon. The US troops are reportedly preparing for a potential evacuation operation of US citizens from Lebanon. The State Department has urged citizens to leave the country while commercial travel options are still available. On Wednesday, Israel’s army chief said it’s preparing for a possible ground war in Lebanon, as the US and other allies called for a 21-day cease-fire.

The DOJ opened a probe into Super Micro Computer. The server company that you’ve suddenly heard a lot about lately due to the AI boom is in hot water, as the Justice Department is now investigating it for accounting violations, the Wall Street Journal reported. The probe follows a report by the activist short-selling firm Hindenburg Research that alleged the company shipped products to Russia despite US sanctions, improperly recognized revenue, and rehired employees who were responsible for accounting breaches. Super Micro stock, which in March had ballooned to 14 times its early 2023 price, has since plunged ~60%.—AE

One of the most iconic, non-cereal mascot faces will be disappearing from your morning routine. Hoda Kotb announced yesterday that she will leave NBC’s Today show at the beginning of next year after nearly three decades at the media company.

Kotb said she wanted to spend more time with her young daughters. She’s a network vet, having started at NBC in 1998 as a correspondent for Dateline before moving up to host the 10am slot on Today with Kathie Lee Gifford in 2008, and then later with Jenna Bush Hager in 2013. Kotb also joined Savannah Guthrie to co-anchor the 7am program, filling the spot left open after the tumultuous 2017 firing of Matt Lauer over sexual misconduct allegations.

Her departure will leave a giant void for NBC to fill. As one of the last linear TV properties that still makes money, Today is a vital profit center for NBC. ABC’s rival program Good Morning America usually beats Today in total viewership, but Today wins out in advertisers’ most important demographic (viewers 25–54).

But…as the morning news market saturates, viewership across all networks has steadily shrunk since 2020. NBC’s viewership alone has dropped 11%, compared with 9% at ABC, according to Pew Research Center.—MM

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The endorsement rules that let Caitlin Clark do a Nike commercial as an undergraduate have led to confusion in NCAA recruitment: University of Nevada, Las Vegas’ new starting quarterback, Matthew Sluka, announced this week that he’s leaving the team because he never received the name, image, and likeness (NIL) money he says he was promised for transferring there.

Here’s the issue: College teams are technically not allowed to dangle endorsement money as a recruiting carrot, and they can’t strike any written deals before students enroll. That just means NIL collectives and booster clubs handle payouts instead of the schools, and courting happens with no paper trail.

So the UNLV fiasco is a he-said-he-said:

• Sluka’s agent said a UNLV assistant coach verbally offered $100,000 if Sluka came to the desert.
• But UNLV’s booster club said it never knew about this promise and that it wouldn’t have been able to negotiate with Sluka’s agent because he’s not registered in Nevada.
• UNLV, meanwhile, said the agent warned that Sluka would transfer if he didn’t get the money, which the school saw as an “implied” threat that broke NCAA pay-for-play rules.

Zoom out: While the new world of collegiate sports endorsements is empowering young athletes to cash in on their talents, the current lack of NIL regulation also leaves room for recruiters to make promises without sticking to them…and some students are suing.—ML

Paying $2.7 billion to rehire one (1) single human person is not going to help Big Tech beat the “spends too much on artificial intelligence” allegations. Per the Wall Street Journal, Google shelled out the ungodly sum to bring back AI whiz Noam Shazeer, who quit the tech giant in 2021 after it refused to publicly release his chatbot. Officially, the payment was to license technology from Shazeer’s startup, Character.AI, but unofficially, the real motive was to make Shazeer a Google employee again, the WSJ reported. Thanks to his stake in the startup, he’s reportedly making hundreds of millions of dollars to rejoin his former employer. So next time you swear never to work somewhere again, remember that there’s a nonzero chance they will pay you almost $3b to return (if you are an AI genius).—AE

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