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☆ Sam Altman's plans for AI's next act keep getting more complex
▼ + stars: | 2024-04-12 | by ( Hasan Chowdhury | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +3 min

Sam Altman's plans for the next act of AI are getting more complex. The OpenAI CEO hopes to solve AI's chip shortage, energy demands and data needs. AdvertisementSam Altman's plans to bring the artificial intelligence industry into a new era are getting more complex by the day. That eye-watering sum gave a small insight into Altman's plans. Taken together, then, it looks like Altman is trying to mastermind a strategy to develop next-generation AI that involves the energy, chips and data sectors.

Persons: Sam Altman's, —, it's, Altman, Altman's, he's Organizations: Bloomberg, Service, United Arab Emirates, Energy Locations: Gulf, Davos, UAE, Washington

Tech firms and Silicon Valley billionaires have been pouring money into nuclear energy for years, pitching the sustainable power source as crucial to the green transition. While generative AI has grown at lightning speed, nuclear power projects are heavily regulated and usually advance at a plodding pace. That's raising questions about whether advances in nuclear energy can cut emissions as swiftly as energy-guzzling AI and other fast-growing technologies are adding to them. The nuclear power industry hasn't meaningfully expanded its share of the U.S. energy mix for decades. By one estimate, up to 800 gigawatts of new nuclear power will be needed by 2050 to meet current green energy targets.

Persons: Sarah Myers West, Myers, Sam Altman, OpenAI, Altman, Jacob DeWitte, Oklo, hadn't, You've, DeWitte, Oklo's Organizations: Silicon, CNBC, Helion Energy, Microsoft, federal Nuclear Regulatory Commission, Air Force, NRC, Idaho National Laboratory, Energy Department, Pew Research Locations: Idaho, Ohio, United States, Alaska, U.S, Ukraine, Fukushima, Japan

☆ No, Sam Altman doesn't actually own half a billion dollars of Reddit stock
▼ + stars: | 2024-02-29 | by ( Madeline Berg | Hayley Cuccinello | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +6 min

Reddit filed for an IPO, revealing nearly 10% of its shares are owned by entities related to Sam Altman. AdvertisementLast week, not long after Reddit made moves toward a public listing, headlines began to appear about an unexpected figure: Sam Altman. For example, Hydrazine Capital II is listed as owning nearly 9.9 million shares of Reddit. But Altman, at most, owns 5% of Hydrazine Capital II's holdings, or 492,720 of its Reddit shares. AdvertisementThe various entities point to a side of Altman — Altman the investor — that has receded from view since he has become known to the public as OpenAI's CEO.

Persons: Reddit, Sam Altman, Altman, —, tech's, Reddit's, that's, he's, Chris Harvey, Altman — Altman, ADVs, Peter Thiel, Cruise, Steve Huffman, Alexis Ohanian Organizations: Service, Business, Securities and Exchange Commission, Harvey, Apollo, Apollo Projects, SPV, SEC, Investors, University of Michigan, Helion Energy, Facebook, Google Locations: Altman

☆ Sam Altman out as OpenAI CEO after board loses confidence in him
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-17 | by ( Madeline Berg | Aaron Mok | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

OpenAI's board announced CEO Sam Altman is out, effective immediately. "We are grateful for Sam's many contributions to the founding and growth of OpenAI," a statement from OpenAI's board said. Prior to OpenAI, Sam Altman was the president of Y Combinator, after his startup Loopt was part of the accelerator's first class. Taking the reins from Altman as interim CEO is Murati, who formerly led the technology team at OpenAI. AdvertisementIf you have any insight into the culture at OpenAI or Sam Altman, please reach out to the author at mberg@businessinsider.com.

Persons: Sam Altman, Mira Murati, —, ChatGPT, Altman, what's, OpenAI, Elon Musk, Greg Brockman, Trevor Blackwell, Reid Hoffman, Peter Thiel, Satya Nadella, Y Organizations: Service, Silicon, Microsoft, Google, MIT Technology, New Yorker, OpenAI Locations: OpenAI, openai

☆ A Sam Altman-backed startup is betting it can crack the code on fusion energy. Here's how it's trying to bring that to the masses by 2028.
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-03 | by ( Britney Nguyen | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The race is on for clean energy company Helion Energy to build a fusion power plant capable of producing enough electricity for tech behemoth Microsoft in five years. Electromagnetic coils that will be used in Helion's seventh fusion energy prototype, Polaris. "But we've never been able to harness it on Earth in a way that we can produce electricity from it." A graphic explaining how Helion's fusion energy technology works. That means if something happens to the machine producing fusion energy, it will shut down immediately.

Persons: Sam Altman, Altman, Scott Krisiloff, Helion, Krisiloff, Helion Krisiloff, we've, Helion's, Energy Krisiloff, It's Organizations: Helion Energy, Microsoft, Energy, behemoth Microsoft, Polaris, International Atomic Energy Agency, Fusion Locations: Helion

☆ Microsoft bets that a fusion power plant from Helion Energy will be operating this decade
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-12 | by ( Catherine Boudreau | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Microsoft agreed to buy electricity from a fusion power plant being developed by Helion Energy. Microsoft on Wednesday agreed to buy 50 megawatts of electricity — enough to power about 40,000 homes — from a fusion power plant being developed by Helion Energy. The seventh prototype, expected be completed this year, is set to be the first to convert fusion energy into electricity, Kirtley said. If Helion doesn't deliver Microsoft the 50 MW of electricity from its fusion power plant, there will be financial penalties, Kirtley said. Helion had previously projected that it would start building a commercial fusion power plant by 2022 — if it obtained sufficient funding.

☆ Microsoft Bets That Fusion Power Is Closer Than Many Think
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Jennifer Hiller | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

An electrical engineer at Helion Energy’s facility in Everett, Wash. Photo: Helion EnergyMany experts believe fusion power remains decades away. Microsoft thinks it could be just around the corner. In a deal that is believed to be the first commercial agreement for fusion power, the tech giant has agreed to purchase electricity from startup Helion Energy within about five years.

☆ Microsoft to buy power from nuclear fusion company Helion
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Timothy Gardner | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

WASHINGTON, May 10 (Reuters) - Private U.S. nuclear fusion company Helion Energy will provide Microsoft (MSFT.O) with electricity in about five years, the companies said on Wednesday, in the first such deal for the power source that fuels the sun but has been elusive on Earth. Government labs and more than 30 companies are racing to generate power from fusion, which could one day help the world slash emissions linked to climate change. Helion's plant is expected to be online by 2028 and will target power generation of 50 megawatts or greater after a one-year ramp up period, it said. Polaris, Helion's seventh generation machine, should come online next year and demonstrate electricity generation, using a mix of laser and magnet technologies to achieve fusion, Kirtley said. In 2021, Helion was the first private company to achieve 100 million degrees Celsius and the optimum temperature is about twice that, Kirtley said.

☆ Microsoft agrees to buy electricity generated from Sam Altman-backed fusion company Helion in 2028
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-10 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +10 min

Photo courtesy HelionMicrosoft said Wednesday it has signed a power purchase agreement with nuclear fusion startup Helion Energy to buy electricity from it in 2028. "This is the first time that I know of that a company has a power purchase agreement signed," Holland told CNBC. The potential of fusion is "unbelievably huge," Altman told CNBC. As of Tuesday, this is still his largest investment ever, Altman told CNBC. Carbon-free energy includes hydro, nuclear and renewables for Microsoft, a Microsoft spokesperson told CNBC.

☆ Tech Billionaires Bet on Fusion as Holy Grail for Business
▼ + stars: | 2023-04-23 | by ( Jennifer Hiller | ) www.wsj.com time to read: 1 min

Sam Altman became a tech sensation this year as the CEO of OpenAI, the artificial-intelligence startup that seems pulled from science fiction. But Mr. Altman, who has been among Silicon Valley’s most prominent investors for more than a decade, has placed one of the biggest bets of his career on a company that might be even more futuristic: a nuclear-fusion startup called Helion Energy Inc.

☆ Sam Altman gave us ChatGPT. Now he wants us to defy death.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-09 | by ( Cheryl Teh | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

Sam Altman put $180 million into Retro Biosciences, a company that aims to delay death by 10 years. Altman's interest in longevity research dates back at least eight years, per the MIT Technology Review. I basically just took all my liquid net worth and put it into these two companies," Altman told the MIT Technology Review. According to the MIT Technology Review, Altman has been interested in anti-aging methods for years. Altman told the MIT Technology Review that the success of this experiment was something he "didn't expect."

☆ What it feels like to visit a fusion company lab on a day when wildfire smoke cloaks the horizon
▼ + stars: | 2022-11-04 | by ( Catherine Clifford | In Catclifford | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +13 min

The Helion Energy building under construction to house their next generation fusion machine. For the employees of Helion Energy, building a fusion device is their job. Helion Energy's building under construction to house the seventh generation fusion machine on a day when wildfire smoke was not restricting visibility. On the one hand, I had a newfound sense of hope about the possibility of fusion energy. This is the Polaris Injector Test, where Helion Energy is building a component piece of the seventh generation fusion machine.

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