Note: Techmeme is hiring part-time editors. Go here to apply, or tell a friend!
Techmeme
November 19, 2023, 11:20 AM

Top News

The Verge:
Source: OpenAI's board had agreed to resign and let Sam Altman and Greg Brockman return, but has since waffled; Altman would want significant governance changes  —  The OpenAI board is in discussions with Sam Altman to return to CEO, according to multiple people familiar with the matter.
More: Wall Street Journal, The Guardian, New York Times, Ars Technica, The Block, Bloomberg, Engadget, Tom's Hardware, Business Insider, Windows Central, Android Headlines, CoinGape, Fox Business, TechSpot, TechCrunch, BBC, Android Authority, Livemint, Marcus on AI, Cryptopolitan, Business Today, London Evening Standard, Verdict, PinkNews, Moneycontrol, NBC News, Tuko.co.ke, SlashGear, DeviceSecurity.io, Cointelegraph, Neowin, Fortune, Axios, Wired, The Information, Exponential View, Bloomberg, Associated Press, CNBC, Fast Company, crypto.news, CNET, Reuters, The San Francisco Standard, Newser, The Hill, TechCircle, Bitcoinist.com, Washington Post, DatacenterDynamics, Forbes, VentureBeat, Wccftech, Mashable, Deadline, and Australian Financial Review
Erin Woo / The Information:
Sources: in a memo, OpenAI Chief Strategy Officer Jason Kwon told employees that the company is “optimistic” it can bring back Sam Altman and Greg Brockman  —  OpenAI is “optimistic” it can bring back Sam Altman, Greg Brockman and other key employees who departed in the wake …
Bloomberg:
Sources: Microsoft and Thrive are working to reinstate Sam Altman as OpenAI's CEO; Satya Nadella, blindsided by the board's decision, pledged to support Altman  —  - Board has considered resigning, hasn't made final decision  — Altman has been weighing new venture, but open to returning
Forbes:
Sources: OpenAI investors discussed reinstating Sam Altman by threatening OpenAI with mass researcher revolt, withholding Microsoft cloud credits, and a lawsuit  —  With the ousted OpenAI CEO actively discussing a new artificial intelligence venture, investors in his previous company are trying …
Kate Clark / The Information:
Axios:
OpenAI memo: Sam Altman's firing wasn't due to “malfeasance” or related to financial, business, safety, or security practices but a “breakdown in communication”  —  Team - after yesterday's announcement, which took us all by surprise, we have had multiple conversations …
Erin Woo / The Information:
Kevin Roose / New York Times:
Kara Swisher / @karaswisher:
Kalley Huang / The Information:
Meta split up its Responsible AI team, moving most of its members to the generative AI team formed in February 2023, and the others to an AI infrastructure unit  —  Meta Platforms has split up a team responsible for understanding and preventing harms associated with the artificial intelligence …
Ben Schoon / 9to5Google:
Nothing pulls its Sunbird-based iMessage app Nothing Chats from the Play Store after a researcher found messages are not E2EE, attachments are public, and more  —  Sunbird has been promising iMessage support on Android for about a year now, but the company has always seemed rather sketchy.
Reed Albergotti / Semafor:
Sources: OpenAI has received only a fraction of Microsoft's $10B investment, a big portion of which is in cloud purchases, giving Microsoft significant leverage  —  Only a fraction of Microsoft's $10 billion investment in OpenAI has been wired to the startup, while a significant portion of the funding …
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Generate videos with Veo 3 in Google Gemini  —  Create high-quality, 8-second videos with Veo 3, our state-of-the-art AI video generator.  Try it with a Google AI Pro plan or get the highest access with the Ultra plan.
UiPath:
UiPath Unveils 10 Innovations that Will Shape the Agentic Future  —  Orchestration engine, API workflows and agentic testing among key features of new UiPath Platform™ for agentic automation, launched at UiPath DevCon 2025
Zoho:
Sandbox testing: Create Mail Agents in sandbox mode  —  Email is considered the backbone for any organization's communication.  That's even more true for transactional emails, which are operation-critical for any business.
IDrive:
Protecting your Cloud Applications Data  —  Backing up Office 365, Google Workspace, Dropbox & Box data is critical to preventing data loss or corruption, complying with laws and avoiding critical downtime in case of a disaster.

Featured Podcasts

Hard Fork:
The A.I. Jobpocalypse + Building at Anthropic with Mike Krieger + Hard Fork Crimes Division
The future is already here. Each week, journalists Kevin Roose and Casey Newton explore and make sense of the latest in the rapidly changing world of tech.
Subscribe to Hard Fork.
The Logan Bartlett Show:
Rick Smith (CEO, Axon): The Wild Ride From Near-Bankruptcy to $50B+
A podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett, an investor at Redpoint Ventures, covering tech with industry insiders.
Subscribe to The Logan Bartlett Show.
The Talk Show With John Gruber:
'Sewing Machine Repair Shop', With Patrick McGee
The director's commentary track for Daring Fireball. Long digressions on Apple, technology, design, movies, and more.
Subscribe to The Talk Show With John Gruber.
Techmeme Ride Home:
Somebody Knows Victoria's Secrets
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Decoder with Nilay Patel:
How private equity kills companies and communities
A show from the Verge about big ideas - and other problems.
Subscribe to Decoder with Nilay Patel.
Uncapped with Jack Altman:
Jordan Bramble from Antares
Conversations with people I admire about things I'm genuinely interested in.
Subscribe to Uncapped with Jack Altman.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:20 AM ET, November 19, 2023.

The most current version of the site as always is available at our home page. To view an earlier snapshot click here and then modify the date indicated.

More News

Will Douglas Heaven / MIT Technology Review: