Lifeboat Foundation

But not all reactions were doom and gloom. As Friday night wore on, some at OpenAI made forward-looking statements. Evan Morikawa, Engineering Manager at OpenAI wrote on X, “For those wondering what’ll happen next, the answer is we’ll keep shipping. @sama & @gdb weren’t micro-managers. The ✨ comes from the many geniuses here in research product eng & design. There’s clear internal uniformity among these leaders that we’re here for the bigger mission.”

Expect to hear more on the OpenAI board’s side of the story as further details emerge.

Sam Altman, the CEO and co-founder of OpenAI, has been stripped of his positions by the company’s board, citing a lack of candidness in his communications, leaving a significant gap in the company’s fundraising efforts.

Misaligned AI is not the one you should worry most about (yet).

For the first time, scientists have used the concept of evolutionary traps on human societies at large. They find that humankind risks getting stuck in 14 evolutionary dead ends, ranging from global climate tipping points to misaligned artificial intelligence, chemical pollution, and accelerating infectious diseases.

The anthropocene era: success and challenges.

LOL they couldnt take the heat for One Day LOL. Pile It On 😂

Altman is “ambivalent” about coming back.

OpenAI’s largest investor, Microsoft, said in a statement shortly after Altman’s firing that the company “remains committed” to its partnership with the AI firm. However, OpenAI’s investors weren’t given advance warning or opportunity to weigh in on the board’s decision to remove Altman. As the face of the company and the most prominent voice in AI, his removal throws the future of OpenAI into uncertainty at a time when rivals are racing to catch up with the unprecedented rise of ChatGPT.

Continue reading “OpenAI board in discussions with Sam Altman to return as CEO” »

Terabase Energy has successfully completed its first commercial solar installation using Terafab, its automatic solar-installing robot.

The Terafab robot – aka the “construction automation platform” – installed 17 megawatts (MW) of the 225 MW White Wing Ranch project in Yuma County, Arizona, on which solar tech company Terabase Energy is working alongside developer Leeward Renewable Energy (LRE) and contractor RES.

The Terafab robot completely eliminates the manual lifting of heavy steel tubes and solar panels – an industry first. Terabase Energy says that its robot achieved labor productivity improvements of 25% compared with manual installation, and the setup improves working conditions for solar technicians, as they’re housed in shaded and cooled conditions. The robot’s precision also enables the 100% return of solar panel packaging for reuse by the manufacturer.

We’re still reeling from the just-breaking news that OpenAI’s enigmatic CEO and figurehead Sam Altman has been sacked by the company’s board of directors. And make no mistake that we’re still intensely curious what went down behind the scenes that led the company to part with Altman during the exact moment when its ascendant tech is driving the nascent AI industry. But as the dust settles, there’s another looming question: what’s the deal with Mira Murati, the company’s interim CEO who’s stepping in to lead immediately?

One thing’s for sure: she’s no lightweight. Here’s what Fast Company had to say earlier this year:

Four board members are left after Altman’s shocking ouster.

Leading investors including Vinod Khosla and Reid Hoffman didn’t receive advanced notice that OpenAI’s board would push out its CEO and cofounder, sources told Forbes.

According to OpenAI’s corporate governance, directors’ key fiduciary duty is not to maintain shareholder value, but to the company’s mission of creating a safe AGI, or artificial general intelligence, “that is broadly beneficial.” Profits, the company said, were secondary to that mission. OpenAI first began posting the names of its board of directors on its website in July, following the departures of Reid Hoffman, Shivon Zilis and Will Hurd earlier this year, according to an archived version of the site on the Wayback Machine.

One AI-focused venture capitalist noted that following the departure of Hoffman, OpenAI’s non-profit board lacked much traditional governance. “These are not the business or operating leaders you would want governing the most important private company in the world,” they said.

Here’s who made the decision for Altman to be fired, and for Brockman to be removed from its board of directors. Update: Altman didn’t get a vote, The Information has reported. Brockman posted an account of his version of events to X that indicated the board had acted without his knowledge as well.