Good morning.
Events this week highlight the vivid contrast in attitudes around the potential of AI. Yesterday, OpenAI raised $6.6 billion from investors like Microsoft, Thrive Capital, and SoftBank. That gave the startup behind ChatGPT a $157 billion valuation and gave the market a clear indication of the excitement among those in the know. A day earlier, 45,000 dockworkers went on strike at 36 U.S. ports, in large part to ward off the threat of automation. One group is doubling down on optimism over AI; the other is fighting it out of fear.
Attitudes can change. Two years ago, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman launched his generative AI chatbot to the public with as much trepidation as excitement. A year later, he was ousted by the OpenAI board, which cited concerns about safety protocols and other issues. He was soon reinstated, and the board was restructured. Now, the company is embarking on its next wave of growth without CTO Mira Murati, who just quit, but Altman is firmly optimistic about the future. In a recent essay, he argued that “in the next couple of decades, we will be able to do things that would have seemed like magic to our grandparents.”
