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OpenAI Sees an Exit, Microsoft Opens a Window

OpenAI's Sam Altman and Greg Brockman have left the building in a turn of events that could script an AI thriller.

The duo will now be heading an advanced research lab at Microsoft. Their exit from OpenAI has led to the appointment of Twitch's former CEO, Emmett Shear, as interim chief.

Notably, chaos ensued following Altman's removal, revealing a divide in the AI community about the pace of AI development. Reports suggest that Altman's firing stems from deep-seated disagreements on OpenAI's strategic direction, while Brockham resigned after the company threw out his friend.

In an unprecedented move, on Monday, over 600 OpenAI employees (from around 700) threatened to quit and join Altman at Microsoft.  While OpenAI's board stands firm on its decision, the drama in the AI sphere is far from over.

Check Ted Crunch’s timeline of how the events took place starting on Nov. 16th when Ilya Sutskever (chief scientist at OpenAI) scheduled an unexpected call with Altman for the next day. Since then, updates and questions have kept coming from OpenAI and Microsoft. 

In one of the latest updates from Monday, Sutskever posted on X: “I deeply regret my participation in the board's actions. I never intended to harm OpenAI. I love everything we've built together and I will do everything I can to reunite the company”.

Would you start betting on what’s happening next? READ MORE.

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These companies just raised money

• Peruvian startup Hapi raises $1.6M to improve its product, grow and conduct market reach in Latin America. 👏

• AppFlowy has raised $6.4 million in funding from a slew of renowned founders. 👏👏

• Brazilian tokenized credit platform Credix raises $60M to expand in Brazil and Latin America.👏👏👏

• LucidLink lands $75M in a Series C round for its on-demand file streaming tech 👏👏👏👏

• Berlin-based AI venture studio Merantix is raising a new €100m fund to co-invest in startups. 👏👏👏👏👏

Amo's ID aims to be the “Antidote for Anti-Social Apps.” Do we need one?

Amo, a new startup from Zenly's co-founder Antoine Martin, has launched ID, a social app seeking to make social networks more personal and less passive. Remember the bustling and interactive profiles from the early days of Facebook? ID harnesses that spirit, allowing users to create highly customizable profiles and interact with friends' profiles more meaningfully.

In an age where social media feeds are algorithmically optimized, ID wants to stand out. It's more of a creative canvas than a news feed, encouraging active participation rather than passive scrolling. With Amo's ambitious goal to scale to 100 million daily active users, we'll be watching to see whether ID can truly make social media social again.

Despite no product on the market, Amo secured an $18 million funding round this year, valuing the startup at $100 million. Keep an eye on these folks, as they're aiming to cure the "loneliness epidemic" often associated with today's social media landscape. READ MORE.

Rushin’ Roulette

Six bullets of updates.

1. Bartélémy Kiss, CEO of Powder, shares his story on how he dealt with his three cofounders quitting on the same day. Has this happened to you (yet)?

2. Salesforce's CEO, Marc Benioff, invites OpenAI researchers to join Salesforce's AI team, signaling a potential talent acquisition. The move follows Sam Altman's recent departure from OpenAI.

3. Clean energy startups in the U.S. face delays in receiving promised federal funding, hindering their growth and innovation. Bureaucratic hurdles are leaving some projects in limbo.

4. Online pharmacy startup Truepill, a part of Postmeds, fell victim to a data breach exposing the personal health information of over 2 million individuals in the U.S.

5. Sarah Guo, founder at Conviction, anticipates that the OpenAI controversy will create opportunities for other AI startups like Mistral, Inflection, and Anthropic to thrive. (Bloomberg Technology video.)

6. Why do Startups must add AI value beyond ChatGPT integration? Dima Kovalenko explains how to add some AI elements to the products to provide added value.