OpenAI Strikes Back (Plot Twist Included)

Also Anthropic launches a new model and TikTok is back in lawmaker's crosshairs

Author

Adam Hardej
March 06, 2024

OpenAI released a blog post yesterday detailing a number of email exchanges between Elon and the OpenAI team. I am now - officially - confused. Who’s the good guy? Who’s the villain? Looks like we will all be hanging out in the gray area of this battle for a bit. Meanwhile, Anthropic just launched a new model that some people are claiming already counts as AGI and US lawmakers are taking another swing at banning TikTok (or at least severing their ties with China).

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OpenAI and Elon Musk

“We couldn’t agree to terms on a for-profit with Elon because we felt it was against the mission for any individual to have absolute control over OpenAI. He then suggested instead merging OpenAI into Tesla.”

Introducing the next generation of Claude

“Today, we're announcing the Claude 3 model family, which sets new industry benchmarks across a wide range of cognitive tasks. The family includes three state-of-the-art models in ascending order of capability: Claude 3 Haiku, Claude 3 Sonnet, and Claude 3 Opus.

Lawmakers seek to force ByteDance to divest TikTok or face US ban

“The bill would give ByteDance 165 days to divest TikTok, which is used by more than 170 million Americans, or it would be unlawful for app stores operated by Apple”

TOMORROW: Universal API Panel

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TOMORROW: [IRL in NYC] PrimeTime VC

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​For those unfamiliar, PrimeTime VC is "The Show of Accredited Banter" that will bring a panel of 4 VCs together to battle it out on stage. The most insights gets the most points. You win either way.

ICYMI: Michelin Guide For Startups - Explaining and Exploring Early.Guide with Zack Hargett

Really enjoyed this conversation with Zack! Go to learn more about his journey to helping other founders win and the launch of Early.guide.

​Zack Hargett is an investor at Early Inc. He is focused on investing in founders and providing hands-on help with product, design, and growth.

​Zack is also the Creator of Early.guide which an initiative geared at helping top talent find career-changing startups by showcasing startups early in their stories.

Check out the recording on Twitter here or on LinkedIn here.

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Winston weighs in.

Letters From The Editor

Misc. (short for miscellaneous)

Still Don’t Know How To Feel

Here are the results from the poll from yesterday (our most voted on poll ever with over 500 votes):

Who's team are you on?

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Sam Altman + Vinod Khosla (194)

🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 Elon Musk + Marc Andreessen (232)

🟨🟨🟨🟨⬜️⬜️ Not sure yet. (157)

As mentioned on Monday, I was leaning towards team Elon/Marc, but these new emails that OpenAI just released present a very different story. The basic takeaway seems to be that Elon wanted more control than they were willing to give up. It also shows Elons support of fundraising (only possible through for-profit) and his understanding of “open” not necessarily referencing open source.

What continues to loom for me is the way Sam was pushed out of YC for sketchy behavior and although he might “not have any equity in OpenAI” (picture me doing sarcastic air quotes) he clearly has control - as demonstrated by the ousting. Elon on the other hand clearly made a move for control himself and I don’t think he’s a saint by any means. No one is clean. This will be battled out in a gray area.

I’m interested to see if the numbers move on the back of this news:

Revote: Who's team are you on?

Login or Subscribe to participate in polls.

Do you feel qualified to present the case for Sam/Vinod or for Elon/Marc? I would love to host a conversation to break this down more. Shoot me an email ([email protected]) or DM on Twitter.

Talk soon,
Adam

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