Techmeme: A look at OpenAI's sprawling product portfolio as the startup matures into a real business and runs into the challenges of avoiding product creep (Matthew Lynley/Supervised)

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September 29, 2024, 11:45 AM

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Wall Street Journal:

A look at challenges to OpenAI becoming a for-profit company, including the complexity of splitting assets with the nonprofit arm, which will continue to exist — Converting from a nonprofit happens rarely, especially for organizations this wealthy. OpenAI has two years to do so.

More: Vox, The Verge, Futurism, and TechCrunch

X: @sigalsamuel and @wsjtech

Forums: r/Futurology and Beehaw

Wall Street Journal:

Source: Apple is no longer in talks to participate in an OpenAI funding round that is expected to raise as much as $6.5B — Company behind ChatGPT is aiming to raise around $6.5 billion in funding set to close next week — Apple is no longer in talks to participate in an OpenAI funding round expected …

More: Spyglass, Daring Fireball, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, Benzinga, News.ng, Daily Journal, PhoneArena, Mashable, iClarified, Neowin, Business Times, iPhone in Canada Blog, Business Today, Reuters, Wccftech, NewsBytes, Business Insider, and Deccan Herald

Threads: @72mena and @firerock31

LinkedIn: Milton Pedraza and Oliver Reichenstein. Forums: Hacker News

New York Times:

Docs: OpenAI had $300M in monthly revenue in August, up 1,700% since early 2023, 350M MAUs in June, and expects ~$3.7B in annual sales but $5B in losses in 2024 — As the company looks for more outside investors, documents reviewed by The New York Times show consumer fascination with ChatGPT and a serious need for more cash.

More: Tom's Guide, CNBC, 9to5Mac, Gizchina.com, Philip Elmer‑DeWitt, The Hill, TechCrunch, DNyuz, Fortune, Marcus on AI, TechRadar, The Decoder, Simon Willison's Weblog, Benzinga, Neowin, The Verge, NBC News, The Information, and Engadget

Threads: @gruber, @paul_rietschka, @kalihays1, and @benedictevans

X: @annmlipton, @grady_booch, @ccm_brett, @garymarcus, @jason_kint, @jason_kint, @modestproposal1, @modestproposal1, @amir, @mikeisaac, @zerohedge, @modestproposal1, @eringriffith, and @mikeisaac

LinkedIn: Brett Pollak, Pramod Gosavi, and Hayden Field

Forums: r/Economics and r/singularity

See also Mediagazer

Matthew Lynley / Supervised:

A look at OpenAI's sprawling product portfolio as the startup matures into a real business and runs into the challenges of avoiding product creep — Plus: OpenAI's portfolio is getting a little big. — ∙ Paid — This issue was finished on a mobile device so I apologize ahead of time for any typos and formatting errors.

More: The New Stack

Reuters:

Sources: OpenAI expects its revenue to grow to $11.6B in 2025; ChatGPT has 10M paying users and could bring in $2.7B in revenue in 2024, up from $700M in 2023

More: The Information. X: @cathiedwood and @manan

New York Times:

Sources: TSMC's execs took to calling Sam Altman a “podcasting bro” after he said it would take $7T and many years to build 36 chip plants to fulfill his vision

More: Breitbart, Tom's Hardware, TechSpot, Windows Central, and Digital Trends

Mastodon: @LilahTovMoon@tech.lgbt and @jalefkowit@vmst.io

Bluesky: @indaindica.bsky.social, @marsrover.bsky.social, @mikal-el.com, @fluxandflow.bsky.social, and @lifewinning.com

X: @stevelohr and @edzitron

LinkedIn: Amanda Brock, James Teare, and Angela Chapman

Forums: Hacker News, r/ArtistHate, and r/singularity

Jem Aswad / Variety:

YouTube blocks songs by Adele, Bob Dylan, Green Day, and others in the US, after its music licensing agreement with performing rights organization SESAC expired — Songs by Adele, Bob Dylan, Green Day, R.E.M., Burna Boy, Rush and many others are currently unplayable on YouTube in the U.S. due …

More: The Verge, Engadget, 9to5Google, The Wrap, Android Police, The Hollywood Reporter, Cord Cutters News, Moneycontrol, Neowin, Deadline, and NewsBytes

Mastodon: @Raccoon@techhub.social. X: @pearltearizzy, @asuszczynski, and @teamyoutube

Mark Gurman / Bloomberg:

Sources: Apple considers options for its headsets, including moving compute to iPhone, and is working on homeOS; new Masimo CEO could enable a deal with Apple — Meta's latest AR glasses and cheaper mixed-reality headset add pressure on Apple to make its Vision push work.

More: The Verge, AppleInsider, 9to5Mac, Patently Apple, and The Tech Basic

X: @anshelsag, @cezaryxr, @tina__nigro, @markgurman, @markgurman, @markgurman, @markgurman, and @markgurman. Forums: r/apple

Ricardo Brito / Reuters:

Court docs: Brazil's Supreme Court say X still needs to pay $5M+ in pending fines, including a new one, before it will be allowed to resume service in Brazil — Brazil's Supreme Court said on Friday that social platform X still needs to pay just over $5 million in pending fines …

More: TechCrunch, TESLARATI, Washington Examiner, New York Post, Mashable, The Hill, Reclaim The Net, Engadget, Bloomberg, Associated Press, CNBC, Richard Stallman's …, Agence France-Presse, The Indian Express, and Inc.com

X: @globalaffairs and @morningbrew

Aswath Damodaran / Financial Times:

NYU professor Aswath Damodaran on an AI bot that is trained on his equity valuation work that is in the public domain, why AI will empower generalists, and more — Whether the risks to jobs is real or not, it behoves us all to act like it is given how consequential the costs could be

X: @tonytassell and @adsinuk

Stephanie Stacey / Financial Times:

Bumble, Muzz, and Match Group are pushing their friend-finding and community-building products to attract young users hit by so-called dating app fatigue — Bumble and Match Group launch friendship and social products to help reverse post-pandemic slowdown

Mastodon: @carnage4life@mas.to. X: @ft, @shahzadyounas_, and @shahzadyounas_

Alex Perry / Bloomberg:

Mark Zuckerberg's personal wealth has climbed almost sixfold to $200B+ in less than two years, buoyed by Meta's record-high share price, which is up 60%+ YTD — - Meta CEO's wealth has jumped sixfold in the past two years — Shares of Meta are trading near record high, up 60% this year

More: The Week, CNN, and Hindustan Times

X: @markets. Forums: r/wallstreetbets

Bill Toulas / BleepingComputer:

The US DOJ charges two Russians for operating $1B+ money laundering services for cybercriminals; one is accused of operating the Joker's Stash marketplace — The U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ) has announced charges against two Russian nationals for operating billion-dollar money laundering services …

More: U.S. Department …, Krebs on Security, US Department of Justice, U.S. Department of State, Flashpoint, and Cryptopolitan

X: @vxdb, @secretservice, @secretservice, @usattyaber, @stateinl, @darkwebinformer, @edvanews, and @mopeng

LinkedIn: Lance Morginn and Brian Krebs

Brian Steinberg / Variety:

Sources: Amazon Prime Video is in talks with veteran anchor Brian Williams to host a live Election Night special, its first entry into news-related programming — Brian Williams may have found his next TV-news job....except it won't be on traditional TV. — The veteran NBC News …

More: Wall Street Journal, Los Angeles Times, The Hill, Mediaite, TechCrunch, IJR, The Hollywood Reporter, The Verge, The Daily Beast, and TVLine

Threads: @mcbride.david.j, @hbraun.jackson, @stevemberkowitz, @daveleebbg, and @crumbler. Bluesky: @jeremydstanley.com

X: @brianstelter, @bristei, and @dylanbyers. LinkedIn: Brian Steinberg. Forums: r/television

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About This Page

This is a Techmeme archive page. It shows how the site appeared at 11:45 AM ET, September 29, 2024.

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.

From Mediagazer

Matthew Keys / The Desk:

Prime Video users will be able to watch local PBS stations and PBS Kids for free in coming months, and two new free PBS channels with ads starting November 26

Michael Gold / New York Times:

President-elect Donald Trump announces he has chosen Karoline Leavitt, who served as his campaign's press secretary, to be his White House press secretary

Freedom of the Press Foundation:

Freedom of the Press Foundation launches its own Mastodon server, social.freedom.press, consolidating its accounts, and will still use Threads and Bluesky

More News

Steven Levy / Wired:

Q&A with Trae Stephens, partner at Founders Fund and Executive Chairman of Anduril, on autonomous AI's role in warfare, building a wearable e-reader, and more

X: @elkeschwarz, @knibbs, @samuelclay, and @matthewboedy

Toby Sterling / Reuters:

SEMI: China is projected to invest $100B+ on chipmaking equipment from 2025 to 2027, followed by South Korea at $81B, Taiwan at $75B, and the Americas at $63B

More: SEMI and SEMI. LinkedIn: Semi

Lizzi C. Lee / Rest of World:

Chinese state media has embraced the success of Black Myth: Wukong, a Chinese AAA game that has sold 20M+ copies globally, hailing it as a soft power export

X: @sluongng, @restofworld, @restofworld, @wstv_lizzi, @danielolimac, @restofworld, @wstv_lizzi, and @wstv_lizzi

Rolfe Winkler / Wall Street Journal:

A look at telehealth startup Done Global, whose owner was arrested by the US in June for allegedly running a “pill mill”, as it continues to operate from China

X: @wsj, @laurenbalik, @stephpstrong, @rolfewinkler, @jchengwsj, @jchengwsj, @jchengwsj, @heathernauert, @dseetharaman, @rolfewinkler, and @jchengwsj. LinkedIn: Rolfe Winkler

Earlier Picks

Kate Knibbs / Wired:

A profile of Internet Archive founder Brewster Kahle, as the service fights existential battles over copyright, including from music labels like UMG

More: Rolling Stone. Threads: @wired. Mastodon: @pete@social.coop, @jawnsy@mastodon.social, and @Jayhoffmann@mastodon.social

X: @xerxesqados, @ronanbeckman, @lionblogosphere, @profwoodward, @deepakadk, @neilturkewitz, @lacey9020, @jomc, @knibbs, and @knibbs

Forums: r/LateStageCapitalism, r/books, r/DataHoarder, and r/technology