Key Developments
1 Murati cites needing time for personal exploration. Bob McGrew (CRO) and Barret Zoph (VP Research) also resigned. Murati’s departure marks the breakup of OpenAI’s original leadership team, with co-founders like John Schulman and Ilya Sutskever also recently leaving.Co-founders John Schulman and Ilya Sutskever recently left too. Departures coincide with OpenAI's shift to a for-profit model. She is known for advocating stricter AI regulations than Altman. Altman claims executive exits are unrelated to structural changes. OpenAI hasn't named a new CTO yet. Altman will oversee technical reports for the time being. Some industry figures, including Elon Musk, mocked the situation. A VC quipped: "OpenAI has no executives" like "Airbnb has no hotels."
2 Bloomberg reported Altman might receive 7% stake as OpenAI transitions to for-profit. Altman strongly refuted this in an all-hands meeting, calling it "ludicrous." He stated, "There are rumors I'm getting a giant stake in the company. This is not true at all." Board Chair Bret Taylor clarified discussions on equity compensation occurred, but no specific figures were mentioned. However, Altman reportedly told stated after a board meeting that investors expressed concern about his lack of OpenAI shares.
3 Decision was made just a week before the deadline. The exact reason for Apple's withdrawal remains unclear. Apple typically avoids investing in startups outside its manufacturing partners. Recent executive departures from OpenAI may have influenced Apple's decision. Microsoft and Nvidia continue negotiations for investment in OpenAI. Microsoft plans to invest an additional $1 billion on top of its existing $13 billion investment. Nvidia is considering a $100 million investment in OpenAI.
Design resembles thick-framed glasses, not a helmet or goggles. Weighs about 100g, significantly lighter than Apple's Vision Pro. Projects 3D images onto lenses for AR functionality. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang praised its brightness, color contrast, and field of view. Users can control it with eye and hand movements to send messages, make calls, and stream videos. Meta hopes it will become the next-gen computing device , potentially replacing smartphones. Price competitiveness remains a challenge due to expensive components. 5 Gaudi3 aims to compete with Nvidia's H100. Slightly lower performance but cheaper and less costly to maintain. Plans to sell kits of 8 chips for about $125,000. Price is roughly half that of the H100. IBM already using Gaudi3 for to save costs. Gaudi3 features technologies for high-performance processing, including 64 tensor processor cores. Intel claims superior inference throughput compared to H100 for LLaMA-3.
6 Intel clearly stated the division is not for sale . Arm's market cap is about $156 billion, higher than Intel's $102 billion. Arm's main strength is smartphone chip design. Arm's acquisition attempt likely aimed to expand into PC and server markets where Intel still dominates. Arm showed no interest in Intel's manufacturing (foundry) division.
7 Alleges Microsoft suppresses cloud market competition through unfair licensing practices . Claims Microsoft forces Azure usage through Windows and Office products and imposes a 400% surcharge for switching to competing cloud services. Microsoft expects Google's lawsuit to be dismissed as it has already reached agreements with European cloud providers. This lawsuit continues the long-standing antitrust tensions between Google and Microsoft. EU is separately investigating Microsoft's Teams app for potential antitrust violations.
8 CMA decides Anthropic's revenue and Amazon's UK market share aren't large enough to warrant in-depth investigation. Previously, CMA approved Microsoft's partnership with Inflection AI for similar reasons. Amazon announced partnership with OpenAI competitor Anthropic last year, pledging up to $4 billion investment. This marks Amazon's largest external investment in its 30-year history. CMA had been investigating whether the partnership effectively constituted a merger.
9 There is strong backlash against Amazon's five-day in-office work policy. 73% of employees are considering leaving the company.91% of employees express dissatisfaction with the policy. 80% know colleagues who are looking for other jobs. Some speculate this policy might be a strategy for natural workforce reduction.
10 Time and place: October 10 in Los Angeles Event theme: "We, Robot." Robotaxi expected to be fully autonomous, without steering wheel or pedals. Features may include wireless ultra-fast charging and automatic disinfection. Investors focus on commercial launch timeline and profitability. Musk claims robotaxi fares will be cheaper than bus rides. Research suggests actual fares might be about twice that of public transit. There's speculation that Tesla might also unveil the $25,000 entry-level "Model 2" at the event. Other OpenAI targets $100 billion revenue by 2029. OpenAI to raise subscription fee to $44 over 5 years. Altman predicts superintelligence within thousands of days. OpenAI releases improved Advanced Voice Mode. OpenAI launches 14-language AI benchmark dataset. Meta unveils 'LLaMA 3.2', its first multimodal model. Microsoft introduces a 'correction' feature that fixes hallucinations. DeepMind announce s 'AlphaChip', an AI for chip design DeepMind creates shoelace-tying robot. Google adds 'Gemini' to Workspace for paid users. Google to launch AI satellite for wildfire monitoring. Google criticized for expensive re-hire of Character AI founder. Chips Nvidia to start shipping 'Blackwell' servers early December. Microsoft to receive first Nvidia 'Blackwell' supply, only a month behind schedule. AMD supplies MI300X accelerators to Oracle Cloud. OpenAI proposes building massive data centers. Huawei begins testing new AI chip 'Ascend 910C'. Robotics Tencent unveils a home care humanoid robot with five functioning fingers and quadrupedal locomotion. Device/Hardware Altman and Ive collaborate on AI device development. Meta launches budget VR headset 'Quest 3S' at $299. Google invests in 'Distance' that turn surfaces into AR displays. Apple to mass-produce 'Vision Pro 2' late next year. Xiaomi patents dual-folding smartphone. Content/Entertainment Apple introduces 'Music Haptics' for the hearing impaired. TikTok discontinues music streaming due to high royalty fees. Microsoft merges Xbox apps, discontinues Game Pass app. Epic Games sues Google and Samsung for alleged app market monopoly. X releases first transparency report since Musk's acquisition, revealing content removal requests. OpenAI's official X account hacked by cryptocurrency scammer. EV/Autonomous Vehicles Google provides customized AI assistant to Volkswagen. Tesla activates FSD for Cybertruck after 10 months. Tesla debuts Cybertruck in Europe at Paris Motor Show. Tesla expects record Q3 performance in China. Tesla Germany makes surprise visits to employees on sick leave. Space SpaceX's Starlink surpasses 4 million subscribers, expecting $6.6 billion revenue this year. SpaceX plans $15 billion investment in Vietnam, targeting 1,500 villages without internet access. Policy/Regulation Apple and Meta opt out of EU's AI Act compliance agreement; Samsung, Google, and Microsoft join. California governor vetoes AI safety bill. California allows Apple and Google mobile IDs. Chinese authorities pressure companies to limit use of Nvidia AI chips. Etc Zuckerberg attempts to mend relations with Trump, reportedly calling twice last summer. Trump threatens to punish Google if elected, claiming biased search results. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang completes early stock sale, cashing out about $1 billion. Director James Cameron joins Stability AI's board.
