Microsoft CEO on Sam Altman and OpenAI Drama; Hostage Talks Progress Between Israel and Hamas |...

On today's podcast:

1) OpenAI said it’s in “intense discussions” to unify the company after another tumultuous day () that saw most employees threaten to quit if Sam Altman doesn’t return as chief executive officer.

2) Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella signaled that he’d be open to Sam Altman going back to OpenAI (), rather than joining his company as part of a surprise move () announced over the weekend.

3) The leader of Hamas said his group was close to reaching a “truce agreement” with Israel () via Qatari mediation in rare public comments that suggest talks over freeing some hostages held by the Gazabased group are progressing.

4) Nvidia’s quarterly results could still exceed skyhigh investor expectations () thanks to strong demand for generative artificial intelligence.

Full transcript:

Good morning. I'm Nathan Hager and I'm Karen Moscow. Here are the stories we're following today. Karen, we begin with the controversy surrounding open Ai. A day after the founder, Sam Altman left for Microsoft, the firm says it is in quote intense discussions to unify the company. In an internal memo reviewed by Bloomberg News, Vice president of Global Affairs, Anna Macanju says open Ai management is also in touch with Aldman. In an interview with Bloomberg News, Microsoft CEO Satia Nadella signaled he would be open to Aldman going back to open ai. We really want to partner with open ai, and we want to partner with Sam. And so you respect to where Sam is. He's working with Microsoft, and that is the case on Friday, and that'll be that's the case today, and we will I absolutely believe that'll be the case tomorrow. Microsoft CEO Satia Nadella says, no matter what happens, open ai needs governance changes. Microsoft shares closed at a record high yesterday. Nearly all of open AI's employees threatened to quit and follow Altman to Microsoft unless the current board resign. Gene Munster managing partner at deep Water Asset Management thinks Altman will land back at open AI. The board's going to be gone. So when if Altman goes back, by the way, that is my prediction what happens here. I think he's actually going to return to open AI. If he goes back to open AI, they're going to be more aggressive at opening these models up. And if he stays with Microsoft, they're going to be more aggressive. And I think at the end of the day, you're probably going to see faster adoption of AI features. It's been coming at a neck break speed, but I think it's going to be even faster based on everything that's happened here. This is really allowing Altman to take his gloves off and probably do what he's wanted to do for the last eight years, and that's deep Water Asset Management's Gene Munster speaking to Bloomberg. Now, let's get to the latest from the Middle East. The leader of Hamas Ismail Hania says his group is close to reaching a truce agreement with Israel through talks mediated by contract President Biden has said both sides are near a deal to free some of the two hundred and forty hostages Hamas seized in the October seventh attack. White House National Security spokesman John Kirby says there would need to be a pause in the fighting if you're going to secure the release of hostages, and we certainly hope we're going to be able to do that soon. You got to make sure they can get from where they are to safety and do that as safely as possible, which means you're going to have to have at least a temporary, localized stop in the fighting. White House spokesman John Kirby says it's been difficult getting information on the hostages because Hamas has control of that access. Meantime, Israeli forces continue to engage in heavy fighting in the Northern Gaza Strip. Israel's taking control of much of the Alshifa Hospital, which it says Hamas used as a command and control center. Well Nathan, the White House is open accounts on Meta's social media platform as threads for the President and Vice President, and Bloomberg said Baxter has the details. The White House says it's just another way to meet people where they are. It says it's been using different forms of media since the beginning of the administration, and this has been in motion for several weeks now, but the timing does come in the wake of Elon Musk's endorsement of antisemitic content, and according to sources, the White House is not considering ending its use of ex accounts because of that, although they do say the Musk post angered Biden...