What Sam Altman’s surprise sacking means for the AI race

Hello from London,

I get that things are supposed to move quickly in the world of artificial intelligence (AI), but it’s been a crazy few days for that sector. A few days ago, in a bolt from the blue, Sam Altman, the co-founder and boss of OpenAI (the firm that leads the AI revolution), was sacked. It’s still not entirely clear why he was booted out. Then, despite rumours that he might be reinstated over the weekend, news broke that Satya Nadella, the boss of Microsoft (one of the biggest investors in OpenAI) is hiring him instead. It turns out that Mr Altman is going to lead a “new advanced AI research team” for the software giant.

This story isn’t over by a long chalk. Just what sort of AI operation is going to emerge at Microsoft, and what does all this mean for OpenAI? What about the relative strength of the camps that favour more regulation for AI versus those who want a free-for-all? Given booming interest in generative AI (think of all those colleagues, high-school students and others making avid use of ChatGPT), it’s hard to imagine a business or tech saga that would, er, generate more interest than this one. I’ll be watching closely—and my colleagues will be publishing updates—in the coming days.

In Argentina, a self-proclaimed “anarcho-capitalist” Javier Milei has won the presidential election. The radical libertarian plans to dollarise the economy and cut public spending by up to 15% of GDP, but is he too divisive to fix the country’s broken economy? The colourful Mr Milei spoke to The Economist in September, you can read the interview here.?

Over in Gaza, it seems to me that the war is entering a new stage. Israel has said repeatedly that it was justified in attacking al-Shifa hospital, in northern Gaza, because Hamas used it for military purposes. Usually an attack on a hospital is a war crime, but not if it is being used as cover for military ends. The Israelis have had control of the hospital for several days and thus should now be able to show the world obvious evidence that Hamas used it for military ends.

As the world focuses on how to end—or at least alleviate—the humanitarian agony the war in Gaza has brought, statesmen and diplomats have to ask themselves what peace might look like. The sad conclusion our correspondent drew from a high-level security pow-wow in Bahrain was that nobody has a clue.

While the war still rages, what might Israel do to bolster its international position? Here’s one suggestion: get a stronger grip on the violent settlers who attack Palestinian villagers in the West Bank. As our sister publication 1843 magazine has observed, the UN counted 222 acts of such violence there in the month after the October 7th attacks on civilians in Israel, or an average of seven a day, more than double the average for the first nine months of the year.?

In America, where the shadow of Donald Trump falls heavily on the forthcoming election campaign, one looming question is whether the Democrats can hold on to the coalition of voters that propelled Mr Biden to victory in 2020. We have just published a review of two new books on the topic. Spoiler: it makes for more gloomy reading for the Democratic Party.

And gloom is what will have descended on my old home of India last night, after the national cricket team lost the final of the World Cup. Still, look out for a different sort of cricket tournament in America, in 2024. In addition, I recommend that anyone interested in India sign up for our new newsletter, Essential India.

And let me point to you what, I suspect, will be our most-read story of the day: our review of the best television shows in 2023. (This is a sister piece to last week’s piece on the best films of 2023, in case you missed that one.)

Here, in response to popular demand, is where you can find a list of all our existing “Economist reads” articles, including the recent popular one on books that you didn’t know were propaganda.

Finally, thanks for all of your dazzling predictions for 2024. Charlene Smith, in Massachusetts, makes the bold claim that neither Mr Biden nor Mr Trump will be victorious in the American election. If you’re right, Charlene, I’m holding on to my hat for a lively year in electoral politics. David Court, in Frankfurt, expects an “explosive volcanic eruption” near Naples, Italy, to cause deadly havoc on the Phlegraean Fields, which I believe is a supervolcano. Perhaps, David, we’ll first see an eruption in Iceland. Meanwhile, Ahmad J.Naous forecasts that AI will be ever more present in all aspects of our lives. Ahmad, you win the prize for making the safest prediction of all.

Keep your predictions flowing please, and I dare to forecast that I’ll air some more of them next week. Reach us at [email protected].

Adam Roberts, Digital editor

Recommended:

The Sam Altman drama points to a deeper split in the tech world

Even by the pace of the tech world, the events over the weekend of November 17th were unprecedented. On Friday Sam Altman, the co-founder and boss of OpenAI, the firm at the forefront of an artificial-intelligence (AI) revolution, was suddenly sacked by the company’s board. The reasons why they lost confidence in Mr Altman are unclear. Rumours point to disquiet about his side-projects, and fears that he was moving too quickly to expand OpenAI’s commercial offerings without considering the safety implications, in a firm that has also pledged to develop the tech for the “maximal benefit of humanity”. Over the next two days the company’s investors and some of its employees sought to bring Mr Altman back.

Is Argentina’s new president too divisive to fix a broken economy?

Javier Milei, Argentina’s newly elected president, rose to fame by bashing the country’s political class on television. Now the world’s first avowedly libertarian leader will probably demonstrate the truth of the notion that it is easier to criticise than to do. On November 19th, Mr Milei surpassed expectations and won 56% of the vote in the presidential run-off, compared with 44% for Sergio Massa, a stalwart of the Peronist movement, which has governed Argentina for 28 of the past 40 years. His coalition, Liberty Advances, won in 20 of Argentina’s 23 provinces, plus the city of Buenos Aires. In his victory speech, Mr Milei promised to make “drastic changes” to end Argentina’s century-long decline and return the country to being a “world power” within 35 years.

Was Israel’s attack on al-Shifa hospital justified?

The laws of war give special protection to hospitals. They lose that protection if they are used for “harmful” acts. Israel has long claimed that al-Shifa hospital, the largest in the Gaza Strip, serves as a key command centre for Hamas, the group which killed or took hostage around 1,400 people in Israel on October 7th. In the early hours of November 15th, after a tense six-day stand-off, members of Shaldag, an elite Israeli air-force commando unit, entered one wing of the hospital.

Most read by subscribers this week:

• Donald Trump poses the biggest danger to the world in 2024
• The Economist’s pick of the best television shows of 2023
• Vladimir Putin cannot keep funding his war for ever
• How the young should invest
• Tom Standage’s ten trends to watch in 2024

Enjoyed this newsletter?

Read three free articles each month on Economist.com—register for free. If you are not a subscriber, enjoy full access by subscribing here.