Hasta La Gadget!

In another twist on the OpenAI saga that raged over the weekend, Microsoft has swooped in and hired Sam Altman and Greg Brockman just after OpenAI confirmed Altman’s firing, CEO Satya Nadella announced in a post on X. The pair, along with colleagues are joining Microsoft “to lead a new advanced AI research team.” Nadella added that Microsoft “remain[s] committed to our partnership with OpenAI,” but the move looks a giant hedge on that bet. It also means the much of OpenAI’s talent may be moving to Microsoft, which may stall the latter’s progress with its widely-used ChatGPT product. 

The appoint was announced just after it was suggested that Altman may return to OpenAI, following his sudden firing on Friday. That was preceded by an outpouring of support for Altman from OpenAI employees, many of whom shared hearts on social media. 

In a bit of a surprising development, though, talks between the parties broke down and OpenAI subsequently said that Altman (and co-founder Greg Brockman) would not return, according to reports. Instead, Twitch co-founder Emmett Shear was appointed as the new CEO. 

Developing…

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/microsoft-snatches-sam-ultman-and-former-openai-colleagues-to-form-its-own-ai-research-team-082755226.html?src=rss

The holiday and the singer are forever synonymous.

The “Karma” singer-songwriter and Drake made BBMAs history with their wins on Sunday.

Cruise co-founder and CEO Kyle Vogt has resigned. In his announcement on X, the 38-year-old exec expressed that “the last 10 years have been amazing,” while reminding us that “the startup I launched in my garage has given over 250,000 driverless rides across several cities.” As to what Vogt is doing next, he plans on taking a break first to “explore some new ideas.” Vogt had previously co-founded video platforms Justin.tv, Twitch and Socialcam.

According to TechCrunch, General Motors has since promoted Mo Elshenawy, Executive Vice President of Engineering at Cruise, to President and CTO of its robotaxi subsidiary. No replacement has been named for the vacant CEO spot.

Vogt’s resignation comes after General Motors installed its very own Executive Vice President of Legal and Policy (and already a Cruise board member), Craig Glidden, as Chief Administrative Officer of the autonomous vehicle firm last week. Cruise’s legal, communications and finance teams now report to Glidden.

General Motors has yet to appoint a permanent Chief Safety Officer, though with the help of an independent engineering consulting firm, it continues to conduct an expanded safety probe on the infamous freak accident. The collision on October 2 involved a female pedestrian being hit by a human driver and landed in the path of a Cruise robotaxi, which ended up running her over and dragging her 20 feet. Both autonomous and manual vehicle operations at Cruise continue to be suspended, affecting a fleet of 950 robotaxis.

This article originally appeared on Engadget at https://www.engadget.com/cruises-kyle-vogt-resigns-as-ceo-of-the-robotaxi-company-041949493.html?src=rss

Social media critics called the BBMAs the “worst ever” after the award show took a digital-only approach on Sunday.