33 h. ago Sam Altman looking to buy rocket company so he can compete with Elon Musk’s SpaceX

Altman and Musk have a long standing rivalry after co-founding OpenAI

Technology

3 d. ago Sam Altman issues ‘code red’ at OpenAI as ChatGPT contends with rivals

Chief executive tells staff it is ‘critical time’ for chatbot as it faces intense competition from Google’s new Gemini 3Sam Altman has declared a “code red” at OpenAI to improve ChatGPT as the chatbot faces intense competition from rivals.The chief executive of the San Francisco-based startup told staff in an internal memo: “We are at a critical time for ChatGPT,” according to a report by tech news site the Information. Continue reading...

Politics

3 d. ago OpenAI’s Sam Altman declares ‘code red’ after rivals make advances

$500bn start-up to refocus efforts to improve ChatGPT as Google and Anthropic narrow its early lead

Politics

7 d. ago World’s first commercial space science satellite launched successfully

Blue Skies Space, a space science data company headquartered in London, said its satellite was launched from a rocket in California.

Politics

9 d. ago ChatGPT firm blames boy’s suicide on ‘misuse’ of its technology

OpenAI responds to lawsuit claiming its chatbot encouraged California teenager to kill himselfThe maker of ChatGPT has said the suicide of a 16-year-old was down to his “misuse” of its system and was “not caused” by the chatbot.The comments came in OpenAI’s response to a lawsuit filed against the San Francisco company and its chief executive, Sam Altman, by the family of California teenager Adam Raine. Continue reading...

Events

2 w. ago ‘Fear really drives him’: is Alex Karp of Palantir the world’s scariest CEO?

His company is potentially creating the ultimate state surveillance tool, and Karp has recently been on a striking political and philosophical journey. His biographer reveals what makes him tickIn a recent interview, Alex Karp said that his company Palantir was “the most important software company in America and therefore in the world”. He may well be right. To some, Palantir is also the scariest company in the world, what with its involvement in the Trump administration’s authoritarian agenda. The potential end point of Palantir’s tech is an all-powerful government system amalgamating citizens’ tax records, biometric data and other personal information – the ultimate state surveillance tool. No wonder Palantir has been likened to George Orwell’s Big Brother, or Skynet from the Terminator movies.Does this make Karp the scariest CEO in the world? There is some competition from Elon Musk, Mark Zuckerberg, Jeff Bezos and Palantir’s co-founder Peter Thiel. But 58-year-old Karp could giv...

Transport

2 w. ago OpenAI’s Sam Altman joins Giving Pledge, focusing his money on tech that ‘helps’

Altman says he wants to focus his philanthropic giving on ‘technology that helps create abundance for people’

Politics

3 w. ago Sam Altman and husband reportedly working to genetically engineer babies from having hereditary disease

Sam Altman and his husband have reportedly invested in a gene-editing startup which aims to eliminate hereditary diseases

Politics

3 w. ago Jeff Bezos’s Blue Origin launches rocket carrying twin Nasa spacecraft to Mars

A huge New Glenn rocket successfully took off to place two spacecraft in orbit for a later boost to the red planetBlue Origin successfully launched its huge New Glenn rocket on Thursday with a pair of Nasa spacecraft destined for Mars. It was only the second flight of the rocket that Jeff Bezos’s company and Nasa are counting on to ferry people and supplies to the moon.The 321ft (98-meter) New Glenn blasted into the afternoon sky from the Cape Canaveral space force station, sending Nasa’s twin Mars orbiters on a long journey to the red planet. Liftoff was stalled for four days by inclement local weather as well as solar storms strong enough to paint the skies with auroras as far south as Florida. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Bezos’s Blue Origin postpones second rocket launch over poor weather

Blue Origin says it is aiming for another attempt as soon as Wednesday as competition with Musk’s SpaceX intensifies Blue Origin, the space company owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos, was forced on Sunday to postpone the anticipated launch of its New Glenn rocket due to unfavorable weather conditions in Cape Canaveral, Florida.Rain and a ground system issue caused delays that were followed by cumulus cloud cover as the 88-minute launch window closed, leaving managers with the only option of pushing back the rocket’s planned second mission. Competition between Blue Origin and Elon Musk’s SpaceX has been intensifying in recent months. Continue reading...

Events

3 w. ago Sam Altman’s bet: Can OpenAI’s ambitions keep pace with industry’s soaring costs?

As investor jitters grow, the loss-making ChatGPT firm’s vast spending commitments test the limits of Silicon Valley optimismIt is the $1.4tn (£1.1tn) question. How can a loss-making startup such as OpenAI afford such a staggering spending commitment?Answer that positively and it will go a long way to easing investor concerns over bubble warnings in the artificial intelligence boom, from lofty tech company valuations to a mooted $3tn global spend on datacentres. Continue reading...

Politics

3 w. ago Investors’ ‘dumb transhumanist ideas’ setting back neurotech progress, say experts

Fascination of investors such as Elon Musk with uploading their brains to computers is hindering progress in curing disease, say scientistsIt has been an excellent year for neurotech, if you ignore the people funding it. In August, a tiny brain implant successfully decoded the inner speech of paralysis patients. In October, an eye restored sight to patients who had lost their vision.It would just be better, say experts, if the most famous investors in the space – tech magnates such as Elon Musk and OpenAI’s Sam Altman – were less interested in uploading their brains to computers or merging with AI. Continue reading...

Economics

3 w. ago OpenAI CEO Sam Altman served legal papers during speech in dramatic on

The 40-year-old billionaire tech tycoon was speaking inside the Sydney Goldstein Theater in San Francisco on Monday when a lawyer stormed the stage.

Events