- Zelensky to meet Pope, Scholz as whirlwind Europe tour ends
- At least 10 dead in Florida but Hurricane Milton not as bad as feared
- Far from eye, Hurricane Milton's deadly tornados rampaged Florida
- At least 10 dead in Florida after Hurricane Milton spawns tornadoes
- Argentina held, Bolivia stun Colombia in 2026 qualifiers
- Socceroos have 'nothing to fear' from Japan
- Sean 'Diddy' Combs sex trafficking trial set for May 2025
- Bolivia stun Colombia in World Cup qualifiers
- Internet Archive reels from 'catastrophic' cyberattack, data breach
- Greece earn late win against England in Nations League, Italy-Belgium stalemate
- Trump biopic 'The Apprentice' hits US theaters weeks before election
- Pavlidis dedicates 'special' Greece win over England to tragic Baldock
- Wall Street stocks retreat from records on US inflation data
- 'Like a quake': Beirut shaken after deadliest strikes on centre
- Fallen giants Ghana in AFCON trouble after Sudan draw
- Asian leaders meet in Laos with US, Russia on world turmoil
- England gamble backfires as Pavlidis fires emotional Greece to victory
- Obama stumps for Harris, Trump talks US protectionism
- New-look France ease past Israel in Nations League
- Belgium fight back to draw with 10-man Italy in Nations League
- 'Get a life': Hurricane whips up US election storm
- Japan stay perfect in World Cup qualifying
- Relief as Lebanon evacuees dock in Turkey
- Lebanon says 22 dead in Israeli strikes on central Beirut
- NBA boss Silver sees games back in China 'at some point'
- Israel strikes central Beirut, killing 22
- Table tennis and Netflix push Ukraine teen into French Open contention
- Civilians flee Gaza's Jabalia in tightening Israeli siege
- Israel strikes central Beirut, killing 18
- At least 10 dead in Florida from tornadoes caused by Hurricane Milton
- Warhol's rare 'Queen' collection opens at Dutch museum
- Three-time NBA champion Green retires
- MLB Twins up for sale after 40 years
- S.Sudan floods affect 893,000, over 241,000 displaced: UN
- Solar storm could impact US hurricane recovery efforts: agency
- Windies sweat on injury to 'crucial' Taylor at World Cup
- Lebanon says 11 dead, 48 injured in Israeli strikes on Beirut
- Panama lashes out at EU over tax haven 'outrage'
- Erdogan says Gaza 'shame of humanity', calls for permanent ceasfire
- TD Bank to pay more than $3 bn to US in money-laundering case
- SAfrica prosecutors drop criminal complaint against president
- 'Good opportunity': Nagelsmann upbeat despite Germany's long injury list
- Hurricane whips up bitter US election battle
- Cameroon bans media talk of president's health amid rumours
- NFL MVP Jackson and rookie phenom Daniels set for showdown
- Chad's capital under threat as floodwaters rise
- Lebanon state media says Israeli strikes hit central Beirut
- No answers on strike on reporters in Lebanon one year on: watchdog
- Ramharack picks four wickets as Windies beat Bangladesh in Women's T20 World Cup
- France's City of Light switches to climate-resilient power cables
Sam Altman: the 'super optimistic' star of AI
By recruiting former OpenAI CEO Sam Altman following his surprise ouster by ChatGPT's parent company, Microsoft is hiring a tech industry star at the forefront of the artificial intelligence revolution.
His unexpected dismissal by the board of OpenAI sent shockwaves through Silicon Valley as the 38-year-old entrepreneur has been the public face of the company's rapid rise in the high-stakes world of AI.
Altman, together with Tesla chief Elon Musk and others, started OpenAI in 2015, creating a research company with the stated goal of building generative AI that benefits humanity.
"The technological progress we make in the next 100 years will be far larger than all we've made since we first controlled fire and invented the wheel," Altman said in a 2021 blog post.
ChatGPT became an instant hit when the generative AI platform was launched in November last year with its humanlike ability to answer questions to generate everything from essays to recipes and computer codes.
But the emergence of AI has also sparked concerns about the technology taking jobs away from people and even posing an existential threat to humanity.
OpenAI's board has yet to disclose the reason behind Friday's sacking but his successor, former Twitch chief executive Emmett Shear, denied reports it was over safety concerns regarding the use of AI.
On Friday, Altman tweeted that he "loved" his time at OpenAI, adding that it was "transformative for me personally, and hopefully the world a little bit".
Microsoft, which has financially backed OpenAI, announced on Monday that it was hiring Altman to lead a new advanced AI research team.
- Startup guru -
Born in 1985, Altman grew up in a St. Louis suburb, where he got his first computer at the age of eight, according to a profile in the New Yorker from 2016.
Altman told Esquire magazine that computers and access to an online community helped him navigate being gay in a conservative part of the country.
He dropped out of Stanford University to start a company, Loopt, which let smartphone users selectively share their whereabouts.
Loopt was acquired in 2012 in a deal valued at $43.4 million.
He took a year off during which he "read many dozens of textbooks; I learned about the fields that I had been interested in," the San Francisco resident has said.
He learned about nuclear engineering, synthetic biology, investing and AI.
"The seeds were planted for things that worked in deep ways later," he said.
In 2014, Altman became president of Y Combinator, an "accelerator" that provides startups with guidance and funding in exchange for stakes in the young companies.
"He thinks quickly and talks quickly; intense, but in a good way," said Industrial Microbes founder Derek Greenfield, who met Altman while his biotech startup was getting backing from Y Combinator.
Greenfield recalled Altman always dressing casually, sometimes in a T-shirt and shorts.
"He was very down to earth," Greenfield said.
Altman left Y Combinator to put his energy into AI.
"He's a very deep thinker who is incredibly focused on getting things right," Insider Intelligence senior director of marketing and commerce Jeremy Goldman said.
Altman has proposed that combining artificial intelligence, robotics and cost-free energy could essentially enable machines to do all the work and provide a "basic income" to adults across society.
"A great future isn't complicated: we need technology to create more wealth, and policy to fairly distribute it," Altman wrote in a blog post.
"Everything necessary will be cheap, and everyone will have enough money to be able to afford it."
But Altman has testified before the US Congress and spoken with heads of state about AI amid pressure to regulate the technology over concerns about its risks.
- Annual list -
Altman told the New Yorker he was a "prepper," someone who has preparations and supplies in place to survive an apocalyptic disaster.
He owns high-performance sports cars and rents planes to fly around California.
On the last day of each December, he writes a list of things he wants to accomplish in the year ahead.
His personal investments include startups working on fusion energy and human life extension.
"I'm super optimistic," he said in a podcast with TED curator Chris Anderson.
"It's always easy to doom scroll and think about how bad things are, but the good things are really good and getting much better."
Just hours before being fired, Altman told AFP that people can't always predict the future.
"The dangerous thing... it's all the new stuff, the known unknowns, the unknown unknowns that are going to come," he said.
bur-gc-juj-lth/yad
P.Silva--AMWN