Hello. Breaking news this morning: Baltimore’s Francis Scott Key Bridge collapsed on Tuesday after it was struck by a large cargo ship. A representative for the Baltimore Fire Department said the collapse is a “developing mass casualty event.“
In today’s big story, we’re looking into how some in Silicon Valley are starting to sour on OpenAI’s Sam Altman.
What’s on deck:
But first, the tides are turning.
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The big story
Altman’s $100 billion ask
They anointed him the startup industry’s latest golden child. Now they’re turning on him.
Some venture capitalists are growing less impressed with Sam Altman as he reportedly raises a $100 billion funding round for OpenAI, Business Insider’s Darius Rafieyan reports.
From hardball tactics when raising funds to relentless self-mythologizing about his role in the future of tech, Altman’s act is wearing thin on some.
It’s only natural for critics to emerge when a person reaches a certain level of fame. Altman has eclipsed that benchmark, going from a well-known name within tech circles to one of the industry’s key players.
Even still, he’s mostly avoided controversy except for his ouster-turned-return last fall and an ongoing feud with Elon Musk.
However, his wide-reaching ambitions — a sprawling network of investments focused on helping humanity — have some feeling they are more about self-promotion.
The Altman vibe shift is representative of the fine line founders often need to balance. Investors want to back visionaries whose charisma and determination for their ideas are undeterred, à la Steve Jobs.
But when unchecked, those sought-after executives can quickly spiral out of control and fall out of favor with those who initially backed them.
Criticism of Altman could also be a bit of sour grapes.
Plenty of people owe Altman for kicking off the AI revolution. Young startups raised funding at eye-popping valuations. VCs who got on the trend early secured big wins during a dreadful environment.
But those who didn’t move fast enough have been left scrambling. Under pressure from their investors, VCs now struggle to find deals at a viable price point.
Even VCs uninterested in AI deals are quickly becoming servants to Altman’s AI empire. The number of startups paying for ChatGPT has exploded over the past year-plus, reports BI’s Samantha Stokes.
Analysis from Kruze Consulting found more than 65% of the 800 startups it works with pay OpenAI. The surge shows how generative AI has infiltrated the daily workflow of many tech workers.
The price point for some of these companies isn’t high — $20 a month gets you access to ChatGPT Plus — but the importance of embedding a product into a workers’ routine can’t be understated.
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What’s happening today
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The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and anchor, in New York. Hallam Bullock, editor, in London. George Glover, reporter, in London. Grace Lett, associate editor, in Chicago.