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☆ The New York Times and other top news sites block OpenAI's new SearchGPT web crawling bot
▼ + stars: | 2024-08-02 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

The New York Times and at least 13 other news sites have blocked OAI-SearchBot. Part of the goal with new AI-powered search engines is to keep users around by showing them summaries. If publishers aren't seeing huge traffic from search engines anymore, why bother allowing their web crawling bots? The major holdout among publishers is The New York Times. "By providing Times content without The Times's permission or authorization, Defendants' tools undermine and damage The Times's relationship with its readers and deprive The Times of subscription, licensing, advertising, and affiliate revenue."

Persons: —, OpenAI, Jon Gillham, SearchGPT, Gillham, The New York Times Gillham, Axel Springer, Charlie Stadtlander, Darius Rafieyan Organizations: Service, New York Times, Business, Yorker, Vogue, The New York Times, Microsoft, OpenAI

Read previewThe recent firing and rehiring of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has put his leadership and personality under a microscope. People who have worked closely with Altman told Business Insider the truth lies somewhere in the middle. Advertisement"The thing I loved about OpenAI is you got to be heard," a former employee told BI. Relationship with MicrosoftWhile Altman is approachable, insiders said his obsession with growing the company can make him seem terse, impatient and superior to other "big tech" companies. AdvertisementAre you a Microsoft or OpenAI employee, or someone else with information to share?

Persons: —, Sam Altman, Altman, he's, He's, OpenAI's cofounders, Altman's, Satya Nadella, There's, OpenAI, doesn't, they've, Mira Murati, Sam, that's, Ashley Stewart, Kali Hays, Darius Rafieyan Organizations: Service, Washington Post, Business, Microsoft, Google, OpenAI Locations: astewart@insider.com, khays@insider.com, drafieyan@insider.com

Read previewThe firing and rehiring of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman has undone months of effort by Microsoft to avoid antitrust regulators probing its massive investment in the startup. It's tough to keep a huge business partnership like this out of what can be intense scrutiny from antitrust regulators. Nadella agreed to give Altman and Brockman their own research arm at Microsoft, if he couldn't negotiate their return to OpenAI. Another interpretation is that Microsoft is keen to show antitrust regulators that OpenAI is an independent company, and not controlled by the software giant. AdvertisementDo you work for OpenAI or Microsoft, or are you someone with a tip or insight to share?

Persons: —, Sam Altman, Lina Khan, OpenAI, Altman, Satya Nadella, Kevin Scott didn't, Kevin, Satya, Microsoft's, Brad Smith, Frank Shaw, Sam, Nadella, Altman's, Greg Brockman, Brockman, Amy Hood, ChatGPT, doesn't, Kali Hays, Ashley Stewart, Darius Rafieyan Organizations: Service, Microsoft, Business, FTC, OpenAI, Activision, Blizzard, Markets, Bloomberg, Chief Locations: OpenAI, khays@insider.com, astewart@insider.com

After the sudden ouster of their CEO, hundreds of OpenAI employees signed an open letter demanding Altman's reinstatement and the resignation of the board. And for at least some of those OpenAI employees, there's relief that they don't actually have to go work for Microsoft. Advertisement"Even though we have a partnership with Microsoft, internally, we have no respect for their talent bar," the current OpenAI employee told BI. Money, the great motivatorBeyond the culture clash between the two companies, there was another important factor at play for OpenAI employees: money. Furious Microsoft employeesSome Microsoft employees, meanwhile, were furious that the company promised to match salaries for hundreds of OpenAI employees.

Persons: —, Sam Altman, Altman, Greg Brockman, Brockman, OpenAI, who's, Kali Hays, Ashley Stewart, Darius Rafieyan Organizations: Service, OpenAI, Microsoft, Business, BI, San, CNBC Locations: OpenAI ., San Francisco, OpenAI, khays@insider.com, astewart@insider.com

☆ If you get sued for an AI-generated creative work, OpenAI says it will protect you while Anthropic says you're on your own
▼ + stars: | 2023-11-14 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

At its first ever developer's day conference earlier this month, OpenAI tried to tackle the situation head on by announcing Copyright Shield. That's a promise that OpenAI will pay the legal fees of its business customers in the event they're sued for something they made using its products. "We can defend our customers and pay the costs incurred if you face legal claims around copyright," said OpenAI CEO Sam Altman in his keynote speech. But OpenAI rival Anthropic, founded by former OpenAI researchers and backed by billions of dollars from investors like Google and Amazon is taking a different approach. But to the extent that liability does exist, Anthropic says it's the person using the product that bears the blame.

Persons: Anthropic, it's, OpenAI, Sam Altman, Janel Thamkul, Thamkul, Erika Fisher, Fisher, I'm, they've, Darius Rafieyan Organizations: New York Times, Business, Google, United States Copyright, Sega Enterprises, Accolade, Sega

M12, Microsoft's venture firm, is offloading some of its portfolio on secondary exchanges, sources say. The fund's shares in startups are taking haircuts of between 30% and 70%, three people said. Microsoft's corporate venture capital fund, M12, has been offloading some of its $1 billion portfolio on secondary exchanges, five people familiar with the matter told Insider. One of the people familiar with the sales said M12 sold one large position this month at a 50% discount. A secondary sales boomSecondary sales are becoming more common in the market in general.

Persons: there's, PitchBook, Ashley Stewart, Ben Bergman, bbergman, Darius Rafieyan Organizations: Microsoft, Vertical Aerospace, Google, Investors, Tiger Global

Mobile ordering and delivery have boosted Starbucks' bottom line and have become an incremental and growing part of the business. Starbucks would not share specifics on the size of its delivery business but has previously said the segment has seen a 20% year-over-year growth. CloudKitchens, which rents small, private kitchen bays that share a reception, offers one solution to delivery growth. Starbucks plans to open the San Francisco ghost kitchen on August 22 and operate it from 7am to 6pm, per a March filing with the city. The ghost kitchen will not sell alcohol.

Persons: Uber, —, Travis Kalanick, Laxman Narasimhan, Travis Kalanick Steve Jennings, CloudKitchens, Pat Grismer, Brady Brewer, Gloria Dawson, Darius Rafieyan, Meghan Morris Organizations: Starbucks, Service, CloudKitchens, Mobile, Buffalo Wild Wings, Getty, TechCrunch, Food Locations: Francisco, San Francisco, China, New York

Andreessen Horowitz is preparing to launch a fund of funds to invest in other startup backers. A16z has already been courting up-and-coming fund managers at events in San Francisco and LA. The venture-capital powerhouse Andreessen Horowitz has in recent months been in discussions to form a fund of funds focused on early-stage investing, according to multiple people familiar with the project. In recent months, the firm has started to court up-and-coming fund managers with events in San Francisco and Los Angeles, according to three sources familiar with the firm's plans. Partners at crossover fund Tiger Global tried a similar strategy in recent years, committing $1 billion to back an array of early-stage venture funds.

☆ Silicon Valley Bank's CEO and CFO were ousted but other bank executives still have their jobs — and they're wooing new customers, acting CEO told clients.
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-17 | by ( Kali Hays | Darius Rafieyan | Dakin Campbell | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

Clients were told that the CEO and CFO are out of SVB, while other managers remain. His message to them: Silicon Valley Bank was fully operational, protected by unlimited FDIC insurance even for new deposits, and all business was functioning normally, as if the bank run on Friday never happened. In this case, Silicon Valley Bridge Bank is a full-service bank." Retaining management is, perhaps, a good outcome for the moment for SVB employees who have been cast in a pall of uncertainty since last week. SVB employees now seem to fall into three groups, according to the recruiter, who has spoken with SVB employees in recent days.

☆ Exclusive: Carta's fired CTO accuses CEO Henry Ward of deceiving regulators, abusing employees, and misappropriating funds
▼ + stars: | 2023-03-16 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +5 min

In a new legal filing Carta's former CTO accuses the company's CEO of a litany of misdeeds. New details have emerged in the ongoing lawsuit between $7 billion startup Carta and its former CTO Jerry Talton. Four days after submitting that letter, Talton was placed on administrative leave. On December 23, 2022, two months after sending his letter, Talton was fired and stripped of $10 million of unexercised stock options, according to Wednesday's filing. The legal filing claims that the company "invaded Talton's privacy and inserted these salacious elements in the complaint simply to malign him."

☆ $7 billion startup Carta has been embroiled in multiple lawsuits with former employees. Allegations in legal documents depict a CEO who can be retaliatory and volatile.
▼ + stars: | 2023-02-21 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Carta, a Silicon Valley darling valued at more than $7 billion, has been embroiled in multiple lawsuits with former employees that named Henry Ward, its CEO and cofounder. Meanwhile, the company is separately suing Jerry Talton, the chief technology officer whom it fired and who was deposed as a witness in the Kramer case. Carta alleges he made secret recordings of company executives and shared them with former female employees who were in legal disputes with the company. And now that the Kramer case has been settled, the complaints from other employees included in the lawsuit may never see the light of day. Lawyers for Talton are expected to file an answer to the company's lawsuit by March 15.

☆ Exclusive: 3 of Carta's top executives filed complaints about gender discrimination and retaliation in a matter of months
▼ + stars: | 2023-01-25 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +7 min

Three former employees filed complaints alleging gender discrimination at Carta. In a statement she told Insider that she was not fired and did not leave the company due to any gender discrimination issues. "I do not feel that I experienced any gender discrimination or any unfair or sexist treatment during my employment at Carta," she said in the statement. Shortly after Johnson's firing, Carta's chief technology officer, Jerry Talton, filed a complaint with Carta's board expressing concerns about her termination and about larger issues of gender discrimination and retaliation at the company. Carta's internal investigationFollowing Talton's complaint, Carta hired the white-shoe law firm Paul, Weiss to investigate the claims, a person familiar with the matter said.

☆ One of the investors that agreed to back Elon Musk's Twitter bid says they want out of the deal
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Darius Rafieyan | Kali Hays | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +4 min

MVP partner says the VC firm committed to back Musk's Twitter acquisition earlier this year. Musk attorney says "vast majority of equity investors have been spoken to and are all in." With Elon Musk's Twitter acquisition looking like it's barreling towards a close, he will soon have to come up with $44 billion dollars — a lot of money even for the world's richest person. Alex Spiro, Musk's attorney, said "the vast majority of equity investors have been spoken to and are all in." Are you an investor in the Twitter deal, or an employee with insights to share?

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