OpenAI Drama-At Least to Now; Apple Vision Pro May Launch in March; Buy a Car on Amazon in 2024; Germany, France, & Italy Reach AI Regs Agreement

The drama has been ongoing and changing by the minute all weekend after the board at OpenAI fired CEO and founder Sam Altman. There were negotiations to get him back, and several hundred employees signed a letter threatening to quit if he didn’t come back. Techcrunch.com reports that investors and particularly Microsoft were angry and felt blindsided. Now, Redmond has done something about it. Sam Altman and co-founder Greg Brockman and a number of their former OpenAI colleagues will join Microsoft, according to word from Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella. Microsoft had invested $10 billion in OpenAI already, and they say they are still committed to the startup. Altman and crew will lead a ‘new advanced AI research team’ at Microsoft. 

Last summer when they showed off the Vision Pro headset, Apple was shooting for releasing the pricy gadget in January. That date has slipped, but not by a lot. According to macrumors.com, the $3500 mixed reality headset should be getting to well-heeled early adapters by March of 2024. Apple is still doing testing on the device, according to Bloomberg’s Mark Gurman. At launch, there will be special areas in the Apple stores where customers can try the headset out and learn to use it. Some select Apple employees have already been sent to Cupertino for training, and they will be the trainers for other Apple store employees (or team members, as Apple euphemistically calls them.) The latest beta of the software includes onboarding videos that show the setup process, so Apple is close to the finish line on the high dollar new product. 

They have been dubbed the ‘everything’ store on the internet, and soon you will even be able to buy a car on Amazon…what’s next? A house? At any rate, bgr.com says that Amazon and Hyundai have announced, via a press release, that auto dealers will be able to sell vehicles directly through the Amazon website in the United States starting next year. Customers will be able to search for available inventory in their area by model, trim, color, and other features. When they are ready to make a purchase, they’ll be able to choose their preferred payment method — even applying for and using financing — all through the Amazon website. Once purchased, they can either choose to pick up the vehicle or have it delivered. No word on returns, but because of the titling and registration, it seems unlikely that you could return one the way you do other goods on Amazon…but the lemon laws, and car manufacturer returns would probably be how one would deal with a new car that just has too many problems.

Germany, France, and Italy have reached an agreement on how AI should be regulated going forward. Reuters.com reports that this should move negotiations along for the whole EU. The three large EU countries favor binding voluntary commitments for both large and small AI providers in the EU. An EU proposal earlier called for a binding code of conduct only applying to major AI providers. In either case, if violations are identified, sanctions could be applied. It sounds pretty mild, but it’s a start on regulating what could be a threat to humanity at some point. 

I’m Clark Reid and you’re ‘Technified’ for now.