In a recent discussion involving several tech journalists, Zoë Schiffer shared insights about some comments made by Sam Altman to his employees. According to Michael Calore, Altman also expressed his views publicly on X, suggesting a desire for competition in the marketplace rather than in the courtroom. During an interview with Bloomberg News, Altman reportedly remarked that he wished the individual in question would focus on building a better product, attributing their approach to possible insecurity and commenting on their happiness.
Zoë Schiffer humorously suggested that Altman might be competing to author the next biography on Elon Musk, likening the situation to a psychological analysis by Walter Isaacson. Lauren Goode recalled earlier episodes where she and Zoë described similar scenarios at OpenAI as “messy,” noting the absence of communication team interventions.
Critics of OpenAI were mentioned, some viewing the company as over-hyped and questioning its $157 billion valuation’s sustainability. Schiffer questioned whether these critics understood Silicon Valley’s operational norms.
The conversation also touched on DeepSeek, a Chinese-owned chatbot competitor to ChatGPT. The emergence of DeepSeek, which supposedly required fewer resources than OpenAI, rattled the AI market. Nvidia’s stock reportedly fell by about 17 percent, affecting its overall valuation. In response, OpenAI introduced its o3-mini reasoning model, claiming faster response times and fewer mistakes, demonstrating a continued push to enhance smaller, less costly models.
The discussion ended with speculation that major AI players might seek strategic acquisitions of smaller companies to rapidly advance their technology and compete with developments like those from DeepSeek.
