The year of Sam Altman

Hi everyone, it’s Ellen in San Francisco. For many people, 2023 was the year they learned who Sam Altman is. But first...Three things you ne [View in browser]( [Bloomberg]( [by Ellen Huet]( Hi everyone, it’s Ellen in San Francisco. For many people, 2023 was the year they learned who Sam Altman is. But first... Three things you need to know today: • Researchers are using Harry Potter to [train AI models](. • Intel will invest $25 billion to [expand a factory in Israel](. • The ousted Binance founder saw his [wealth balloon]( as Bitcoin values rebounded. ‘AI overlord’ OpenAI has been around since 2015, but the artificial intelligence startup didn’t have a hit until a year ago, when it released ChatGPT. Within days, more than 1 million users were typing questions to the chatbot and receiving remarkable answers back. Even though OpenAI Inc. had been cooking the underlying technology for years, ChatGPT marked a huge change for the public consciousness. It [made AI feel real]( — and to some, [scary](. Many people, for the first time, contemplated what life might look like if ChatGPT could draft their college essays or debug their code for them. It supercharged OpenAI’s sales and thrust the company into competition with big tech companies. Google freaked out and went into “code red” to [rush out]( a competing product. Microsoft Corp. tightened its partnership with OpenAI with $10 billion in new investment agreements. The hype turned all eyes to [Sam Altman](bbg://people/profile/16408119), the OpenAI chief executive officer. Headlines dubbed him the “ChatGPT king” and an “AI overlord.” He sat for marathon podcast interviews that stretched two and a half hours long. Throughout the spring, he visited world leaders in India, South Korea, the United Arab Emirates and the UK. He said he wasn’t seeking the attention but was doing it out of a sense of duty to the world. “I'd rather be in the office working,” he [told]( Emily Chang at the Bloomberg Technology Summit in June. “But I think at this moment in time, people deserve basically as much time asking questions as they want. And I’m trying to show up and do it.” Altman was the leader of a company building technology that some believed could be “the last invention” — something that could supersede its own creators. Given the stakes, the interviews and lengthy profiles often asked: Should we trust this guy? “You shouldn’t,” Altman told Chang in that same interview and added: “No one person should be trusted here.” He said OpenAI was governed by the board of its associated nonprofit, and they held the ultimate kill switch. “The board can fire me,” he said. “I think that’s important.” We all know what happened next. In November, the board fired him, in part over worries that they couldn’t trust him. But within days, OpenAI’s investors — and hundreds of its employees — had successfully rallied to support his reinstatement. AI is going to continue to shape our lives next year, likely in ways we can’t predict, with a shifting group of people jockeying for a position to control it. The nail-biting boardroom drama is a reminder that power games in Silicon Valley don’t always follow the technical rules. Often, soft power is the one that prevails. —[Ellen Huet](mailto:ehuet4@bloomberg.net) The big story Apple Inc. appealed the US International Trade Commission’s decision to force the Apple Watch off the market in a patent dispute. [The iPhone maker’s move to federal court]( came after the US trade representative and the White House declined to intervene on the company’s behalf. Looking back at 2023 Advertisers deserted X, formerly Twitter, leading to an [angry public outburstÂ](by owner Elon Musk. Alphabet Inc.’s Google went to court to face antitrust charges on multiple fronts: a fight over its [search dominance]( with the US Justice Department and[lawsuit]( filed by Epic Games over the Play Store. The go-to bank for [Silicon Valley’s startups collapsed](. More from Bloomberg Get Bloomberg Tech weeklies in your inbox: - [Cyber Bulletin]( for coverage of the shadow world of hackers and cyber-espionage - [Game On]( for reporting on the video game business - [Power On]( for Apple scoops, consumer tech news and more - [Screentime]( for a front-row seat to the collision of Hollywood and Silicon Valley - [Soundbite]( for reporting on podcasting, the music industry and audio trends - [Q&AI]( for answers to all your questions about AI Follow Us Like getting this newsletter? [Subscribe to Bloomberg.com]( for unlimited access to trusted, data-driven journalism and subscriber-only insights. Want to sponsor this newsletter? [Get in touch here](. You received this message because you are subscribed to Bloomberg's Tech Daily newsletter. If a friend forwarded you this message, [sign up here]( to get it in your inbox. [Unsubscribe]( [Bloomberg.com]( [Contact Us]( Bloomberg L.P. 731 Lexington Avenue, New York, NY 10022 [Ads Powered By Liveintent]( [Ad Choices](