OpenAI Saga and another Crypto king falls

Hello: We have been out for a little while. But this week was crazy we had to rise the undertaker’s way.

 In today’s edition.

1. OpenAI saga.

2. Another Crypto King falls.

3. Tour de headlines(Google Bard’s improvement, Starship’s Launch, The end for Clyde chatbot).

4. Shout out Kona.

Battle that showed how big AI is (OpenAI saga).

Last week's conclusion was marked by an unexpected turn of events, involving the abrupt dismissal of a tech luminary, swirling speculation about the reasons behind the ousting, and a surprising twist that left everyone further astonished - all against the backdrop of the future of artificial intelligence hanging in the balance.

Background story:

 OpenAI's board unceremoniously removed Altman from his position without prior notice, causing upheaval not only within the company but also among its investors, including Microsoft, which had invested a substantial $13 billion in the ChatGPT creator. Co-founder Brockman resigned in protest, resulting in significant turmoil within the influential tech firm.

The tech community rallied in support of Altman and Brockman, criticizing the board's decision as irresponsible, drawing parallels to Steve Jobs' dismissal from Apple in 1985. 

This move incited anger among major investors like Microsoft, who attempted unsuccessfully over the weekend to persuade Altman and Brockman to reconsider their positions. As an interim replacement for Altman, OpenAI enlisted the former CEO of Twitch, Emmett Shear on Monday.

The aftermath took an unexpected turn when over 700 of OpenAI's 770 employees threatened to resign in solidarity with Altman. 

The exact reason for Altman's removal remained undisclosed, with the board citing "a breakdown in communications" rather than any misconduct. Reports hinted at a divergence in perspectives regarding Altman's ambitious growth strategies, causing concern among board members cautious about AI's potential dangers compared to Altman's rapid commercialization plans for the powerful ChatGPT chatbot.

The ComeBack:

Surprisingly, Altman managed to reclaim the CEO position on Wednesday after a tumultuous company struggle that almost ended the company's great run. Former president Greg Brockman, who had resigned earlier, also agreed to return.

In a late Tuesday statement, the company revealed a tentative agreement for Altman to resume his role, accompanied by a new board comprising Bret Taylor, Larry Summers, and Adam D’Angelo. D’Angelo, a member from the previous board responsible for Altman's dismissal, maintained a position in the new board to represent the previous board's interests.

Another Crypto King falls.

Changpeng Zhao  (CZ), CEO of Binance, the world’s largest cryptocurrency trading platform, is stepping down from his role and pleading guilty to money laundering, according to US court documents released to the public yesterday. Binance Coin fell 6% following the news, sparking a wave of drops across crypto.

Zhao’s fall is part of a settlement between Binance and the DOJ, which alleges that Binance enabled people in sanctioned countries, like Iran and Russia, to trade on the platform, violating US regulations against money laundering. Binance will reportedly pay a $4.3 billion fine but will stay open for business.

The man behind the curtain: Zhao, better known by his initials, “CZ,” founded Binance in 2017 and oversaw the company as it completed a meteoric rise to the top of the crypto world, competing with the other now-infamous crypto guy Sam Bankman-Fried, often on X.

Call it Karma

If SBF has a burn book, CZ is probably on page one. SBF blamed his rival for the downfall of FTX since the bank run that triggered FTX’s bankruptcy started because of a tweet from CZ saying he was going to dump all of his FTX tokens.

Binance was a bit like your friend who stays at the party after the cops come and drink the beer that’s left: The crypto exchange became responsible for two-thirds of crypto trading on global exchanges—making it, in some experts' opinions, too big to fail. CZ probably won’t face jail time, since he’s based in the UAE, with whom the US does not have an extradition agreement.

It’s a precarious time to be involved in digital currency trading. Binance is facing a different lawsuit from the SEC that alleges the company artificially inflated its US trading volume and offered crypto futures without registering as a futures commodity merchant. On Monday, the SEC hit Kraken—another one of the world’s largest cryptocurrencies—with a similar lawsuit.

Tour de headlines:

Google Bard

Google recently announced that Bard, its AI chatbot can now answer questions about YouTube videos. This update expands Bard's ability to understand video content and provide specific answers related to the video's content.

Previously, Bard’s YouTube extension could only be used to find a specific video but now users can ask questions about the content. This update was in conjunction with YouTube’s experimentation with new generative AI features, including an AI conversational tool that answers questions about YouTube content and a comments summarizer tool that organizes discussion topics in video comments.

SpaceX’s Starship Second Launch

SpaceX’s Starship exploded not once but twice during its historic second launch on Saturday, November 18. The mission aim was to send Starship's 165-foot-tall (50 meters) upper stage most of the way around Earth, from SpaceX's Starbase site in South Texas to a patch of the Pacific Ocean near Hawaii.  Despite the starship exploding, there was a lot to like about since all the 33 Raptor engines started up successfully for the first time and completed a full-duration burn during ascent.

The end for Discord Clyde

Discord announced that it will discontinue its Clyde AI chatbot by Friday, December 1, 2023. Clyde was a beta feature launched in May 2021 for users to get answers to their questions without human moderation.

Discord is known for hosting a wide range of bots and services, including moderation, music, gaming, and utility bots. It is also popular among AI art-generation communities. The decision to remove Clyde does not affect the presence of other bots on the platform.

📢Shout Out Kona

Today we give a big shout-out to our fan and friend @Ryan For his great work on edge ml,embedded system and his willingness to educate others in tech. Every conversation with Ryan is an opportunity for me to double my knowledge. Read more of his work on his website.