Techmeme
November 19, 2023, 6:55 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: The Guardian, Wall Street Journal, Ars Technica, New York Times, Business Insider, Engadget, Fox Business, Cryptopolitan, CNN, Bloomberg, TechCrunch, BBC, London Evening Standard, Cointelegraph, DeviceSecurity.io, Tuko.co.ke, Moneycontrol, Android Authority, CNBC, Verdict, Fortune, Axios, Marcus on AI, Neowin, SlashGear, Washington Post, Windows Central, Business Today, The Information, Exponential View, Bloomberg, Fast Company, Gizchina, crypto.news, VentureBeat, CNET, Android Headlines, The Hill, TechCircle, Forbes, DatacenterDynamics, CoinGape, International Business Times, Bankless Times, MarketWatch, Bitcoin News, Livemint, Wccftech, Mashable, Deadline, Australian Financial Review, and NBC News
Bluesky: @dead.place and @epro.social
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:
Steven Levy / Wired:
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 …
Jay Peters / The Verge:
Kevin Roose / New York Times:
Erin Woo / The Information:
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 …
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 …
Kate Clark / The Information:
Todd Bishop / GeekWire:
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.
Will Douglas Heaven / MIT Technology Review:

Sponsor Posts

Google:
Gemini 2.5 Pro: Our most intelligent AI model  —  Gemini 2.5 Pro (experimental) is now available, with thinking capabilities, enhanced performance, and improved accuracy.  Try it at no cost in the Gemini app.
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:
How EQ plays a defining role in workplace communication  —  What if everyone you worked with had a psychic ability to understand how you're feeling and respond accordingly?  Wouldn't that be great?
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

The Logan Bartlett Show:
Debunking Healthcare's Biggest Myths with Zach Weinberg and Derek Thompson
A podcast hosted by Logan Bartlett, an investor at Redpoint Ventures, covering tech with industry insiders.
Subscribe to The Logan Bartlett Show.
Techmeme Ride Home:
The Thin-Phone Era Is Here
The day's tech news, every day at 5pm ET. Fifteen minutes and you're up to date.
Subscribe to Techmeme Ride Home.
Spotlight On:
Supabase's Paul Copplestone on the difference between "playing startup" and strategy
A podcast from Accel about how companies are built, from the people doing the building.
Subscribe to Spotlight On.
Invest Like the Best:
Royce Yudkoff & Rick Ruback - Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition
The leading destination to learn about business and investing. We do this by showcasing exceptional talent and ideas.
Subscribe to Invest Like the Best.
Diggnation:
Quitting Booze, Quitting Alexa, and AI Tries to Replace Us All
Kevin Rose and Alex Albrecht give you their unique, sometimes awkward, and always hilarious take on the edges of the internet.
Subscribe to Diggnation.
 

About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 6:55 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

Earlier Picks