Business Wars Wondery

It's 1940 and as Adolph Hitler’s forces storm across Europe, the American army pays a nearly broke U.S. carmaker to develop a lightweight, durable, all-purpose, all-terrain automobile for use in the coming world war. The vehicle that’s created comes to be known as the Jeep and it plays a pivotal role in winning that war. But the Jeep has a bumpy homecoming. And as Americans start spending more time on the road and behind the wheel, they pave the way for the rise of an off-road challenger. It’s made by Ford. And it’s called the Bronco.

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It’s 1965 and as the Bronco bucks onto the market, the Jeep boosts its engine power in hopes of catching up. But by the 1970s, the Jeep’s owner, the American Motor Company, has a new strategy: beat the Bronco by going bigger. AMC introduces the massive Jeep Cherokee, jump starting an arms race. Next, Bronco also goes big. Then, Jeep goes even bigger, and more luxurious, with the Grand Cherokee.




As the 1990s arrive, the rugged Bronco is falling out of favor with consumers. But it spends one more wild moment in the spotlight when a white Bronco leads a low-speed police chase on live television. Its passenger is murder suspect O.J. Simpson.

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From the outside, OpenAI looked like one of Silicon Valley’s biggest success stories. In 2022, it had stunned the world with the release of ChatGPT3.5, leapfrogging some of the biggest tech companies to be an industry leader in artificial intelligence. But, inside the company walls trouble was brewing. Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever had increasing concerns about the speed at which OpenAI was commercializing and releasing AI products. He worried about the direction AI was heading and the impact it would have on the future of humanity.




In November 2023, Sutskever reached his breaking point. His actions would have a tumultuous effect.







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OpenAI co-founder Ilya Sutskever’s move to fire Sam Altman with no warning kicks off five days of chaos for the tech company. After he gets over the shock, Altman uses all his corporate savvy to fight back. For days, over McDonalds and Boba tea, Altman and the board feud over the path forward for Altman and OpenAI, while the business community waits on tenterhooks to find out the future of one of the most important AI companies in the world.







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After five intense days, Sam Altman prevails over the OpenAI Board and is reinstated as CEO, with a new board in place.  But the turmoil has shown that OpenAI is vulnerable and its competitors, including Google and Microsoft, are ready to take advantage of OpenAI’s weakness.  And with OpenAI’s old board out and Chief Scientist Ilya Sutskever’s role at OpenAI murky, the path is clear for OpenAI to develop and commercialize AI at an even faster rate than as before. 

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A lot has happened at OpenAI since that whiplash week in November 2023 when the board ousted its chief executive. There was an investigation to determine whether Sam Altman’s firing was just, and a lawsuit from OpenAI co-founder Elon Musk. Meanwhile, the company’s competition has been charging ahead. Julia Black, a reporter with The Information, joins host David Brown to break down the latest developments and shed light on where Sam Altman — and the future of AI — are going next. 

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