Welcome to The Upgrade

Welcome to my weekly newsletter, which focuses on the intersection of AI, media, and storytelling. This is another special update regarding the unfolding drama at OpenAI.

In today’s issue:

• 🎥 Video: Is this the End of Open AI?

🎥 Is this the End of Open AI?

It’s been several late nights and early mornings for industry observers as we unravel what’s happening at OpenAI. The company emerged as the leading player in the generative AI industry this year due to the meteoric rise of its flagship product, ChatGPT.

Today, I chatted with Pete Pachal and John Biggs of Media Copilot about the future of OpenAI and what it means for both the AI industry and ChatGPT users. Pete is the former head of content at Coinbase, tech editor at Mashable, and news director at PCMag. John is the former editor-at-large at TechCrunch, editor-in-chief at Gizmodo, and a long-time media entrepreneur.

We did our best to tackle the tough questions: Will OpenAI still exist in a few days or months? What should consumers do? We even laughed at how ridiculously fast and unpredictable this entire saga has been. Here’s our take. Some of it may be obsolete by tomorrow, but many insights should last (much) longer than that! ⬇️

What’s happening?

In a dramatic turn of events, the generative AI industry has been shaken by the recent developments at OpenAI. Previously, the company led the field with ChatGPT, which had become a go-to for AI newcomers. Having secured over 100 million active weekly users, the company's ChatGPT 4 model was considered the benchmark in the industry. OpenAI, recently valued at nearly $90 billion, is now plagued with existential doubts and a non-zero risk that its valuation could evaporate.

The blow struck when OpenAI's board unexpectedly dismissed CEO Sam Altman on Friday. This has led to a tense standoff over the weekend stretching into the holiday week, with OpenAI's employees demanding Altman's reinstatement and the resignation of the board. In a surprise twist, Microsoft, OpenAI's largest investor, offered Altman the leadership role at a new AI subsidiary, with nearly all of the OpenAI staff threatening to join him there if Altman was not reinstated. Here’s a summary of the key events of the past few days.

Possible Scenarios

As we discuss in the video podcast, the future of OpenAI now seems to hang in the balance, with two main possibilities emerging:

1) Altman returns to his position as CEO at OpenAI, and the partnership with Microsoft continues, potentially giving Microsoft greater control over OpenAI's operations, or

2) Microsoft effectively absorbs OpenAI, leading to OpenAI's effective dissolution.

🎧 Have a listen and let me know: What do you think will happen? Who will be the biggest winners and losers? What are you most worried about?

New AI Course Dates Coming Soon! 🗓️

AI Fundamentals for Professional Marketers & Communicators and AI Boost for Professional Communicators & Marketers are currently underway! Be on the lookout for next year’s course dates, which will be released in the coming weeks. You will learn skills that will be relevant to ANY AI product — far beyond just ChatGPT. 😉

Don’t be shy—hit reply if you have thoughts or feedback. I’d love to connect with you!

Until next week,

Peter

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