#microsoft ceo

[msclaritea]

OpenAI boss Sam Altman wants $7tn. For all our sakes, pray he doesn’t get it | Artificial intelligence (AI) | The Guardian

Once upon a time, nobody outside tech circles had heard of Sam Altman. But then his company, OpenAI, launched ChatGPT, and suddenly he was everywhere – touring the world, giving interviews to gushing journalists, granting audiences to awestruck politicians etc. Whiplash-thin, with a charmingly wide-eyed baby face, he instantly became the acceptable face of digital capitalism.

Then the OpenAI board abruptly fired him, apparently on the grounds that he had not been, er, entirely candid with them.

When Satya Nadella, Microsoft’s CEO (who had invested $13bn in OpenAI), heard about it, though, he was mightily pissed off. And in no time all, Altman was unsacked and reinstated in the OpenAI driving seat. And the world was transfixed by the drama of it all. Which only goes to show that appearances can be deceptive.

If the world had read Tad Friend’s profile of Altman, which appeared in the New Yorker in 2016, it might have been less overawed.

“I have narrow interests in technology,” he told Friend. “I have no patience for things I’m not interested in: parties, most people. When someone examines a photo and says, ‘Oh, he’s feeling this and this and this,’ all these subtle emotions, I look on with alien intrigue.” Altman’s great strengths, concluded Friend, “are clarity of thought and an intuitive grasp of complex systems. His great weakness is his utter lack of interest in ineffective people, which unfortunately includes most of us. I found his assiduousness alarming at first, then gradually endearing.”

Two recent events suggest that it might be time to dial down the “endearing” bit. The first was the revelation that OpenAI was rowing back on its previous aversion to “military and warfare” use of its technology. The second was the announcement that Altman was wooing the United Arab Emirates for up to $7tn (£5.6tn) for the business of chips and AI. To put Altman’s aspirations in context, the sum he’s seeking to raise is just under a third of US GDP and pretty close to its £6.3tn federal budget for 2022. And, on a historical note, it’s $3tn more than the $4tn (adjusted for inflation) that the US spent on the second world war.

His aspiration seems crazy. And yet the Silicon Valley crowd think he’s a genius. So what’s going on?

So what would $7tn get you? Well, as the Register helpfully points out, it’s enough cash “to gobble up Nvidia, TSMC, Broadcom, ASML, Samsung, AMD, Intel, Qualcomm, and every other chipmaker, designer, intellectual property holder, and equipment vendor of consequence in their entirety – and still have trillions left over”. But Altman doesn’t just aim to become the John D Rockefeller of our times – owning everything. He wants to make things – specifically the GPUs (graphics processing units) that machine-learning systems require. That means building semiconductor fabrication units (fabs). These cost about $20bn each and take four or more years to commission and become productive. They also require very highly skilled staff – which the US semiconductor industry is short of by about 70,000.

In addition, these plants are huge consumers of water, in a world that is rapidly running short of it. But Altman would have enough dosh to build 350 of the monsters. I could go on, but you get the message. This aspiration seems crazy. And yet the Silicon Valley crowd thinks he’s a genius. So what’s going on?

The answer is that most of them belong to the church of technocracy, of which Altman is a charismatic member. Devout members of this sect believe that the world is terminally screwed-up, and that the only way to fix it is with tech. They are ecstatic about AI because finally a technology has arrived that apparently could fix everything – economic growth, healthcare, productivity, education, even the climate crisis. Strangely, though, warfare seems to be missing from the list.

The only difficulty is that this magical technology needs unconscionable quantities of data and computational power. Our future, apparently, depends on infinite amounts of what the industry now calls “compute”, and Altman is lauded because only he has had the courage to say out loud how much of it is needed in order to save civilisation.

He is deeply conscious of the responsibility he carries.

“Democracy only works in a growing economy,” he told Friend in 2016. “Without a return to economic growth, the democratic experiment will fail.” If it does, though, Altman will be ready. In a discussion about aggressive AI and nations fighting with nuclear weapons over scarce resources, he said: “I try not to think about it too much. But I have guns, gold, potassium iodide, antibiotics, batteries, water, gas masks from the Israel Defense Forces, and a big patch of land in Big Sur I can fly to.”

Nice to know that that $7tn will be in safe hands."

What I’ve been reading

Tech groupthink

Adrienne LaFrance has written a terrific essay in the Atlantic on the underpinning techno-authoritarian ideology of Silicon Valley.

[reallytoosublime]

Microsoft has always been a pioneer in technology, and its commitment to artificial intelligence is no different. Satya Nadella discusses how Microsoft is using artificial intelligence to enhance healthcare, gaming, and several other industries. He provides a fascinating glimpse into the future of the tech giant, and how it plans.

Satya Narayana Nadella, born on August 19, 1967, in Hyderabad, India, is a renowned technology executive best known for his role as the CEO of Microsoft. His tech journey is a captivating story of transformation, innovation, and leadership that has reshaped one of the world's most influential technology companies.

Satya Nadella joined Microsoft in 1992, where he held various positions across the company's business divisions. He initially worked on the development of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system and played a role in building the company's early cloud services.

Satya Nadella became the third CEO of Microsoft on February 4, 2014, succeeding Steve Ballmer. His appointment marked a pivotal moment for the company. He set out to reshape Microsoft's strategy by emphasizing cloud services, artificial intelligence (AI), and openness to a variety of platforms.

One of Nadella's most notable contributions to Microsoft was his involvement in the development and growth of Microsoft Azure, the company's cloud computing platform. Under his leadership, Microsoft transformed from a predominantly software-focused company to a cloud-first and mobile-first organization.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella: Transforming Microsoft's Future

[youtubemarketing1234]

Microsoft has always been a pioneer in technology, and its commitment to artificial intelligence is no different. Satya Nadella discusses how Microsoft is using artificial intelligence to enhance healthcare, gaming, and several other industries. He provides a fascinating glimpse into the future of the tech giant, and how it plans.

Satya Narayana Nadella, born on August 19, 1967, in Hyderabad, India, is a renowned technology executive best known for his role as the CEO of Microsoft. His tech journey is a captivating story of transformation, innovation, and leadership that has reshaped one of the world's most influential technology companies.

Satya Nadella joined Microsoft in 1992, where he held various positions across the company's business divisions. He initially worked on the development of Microsoft's Windows NT operating system and played a role in building the company's early cloud services.

Satya Nadella became the third CEO of Microsoft on February 4, 2014, succeeding Steve Ballmer. His appointment marked a pivotal moment for the company. He set out to reshape Microsoft's strategy by emphasizing cloud services, artificial intelligence (AI), and openness to a variety of platforms.

One of Nadella's most notable contributions to Microsoft was his involvement in the development and growth of Microsoft Azure, the company's cloud computing platform. Under his leadership, Microsoft transformed from a predominantly software-focused company to a cloud-first and mobile-first organization.

Satya Nadella championed Microsoft's efforts in artificial intelligence and machine learning, leading to the integration of AI capabilities into various products and services, such as Microsoft 365 and Azure AI.

Satya Nadella's leadership has been instrumental in Microsoft's resurgence and its transformation into one of the world's leading technology companies in the cloud computing and AI sectors. Under his guidance, Microsoft's market value increased significantly, and the company regained its position as a major player in the tech industry.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella: Transforming Microsoft's Future

[m-ultraarticles]

Microsoft CEO Nadella refutes Elon Musk's claim of control over OpenAI, says small players can compete with giants

In a recent interview, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella contradicted Elon Musk’s assertion that Microsoft had control over OpenAI due to its significant investment. Nadella refuted Musk’s claim, emphasizing that Microsoft does not hold sway over the startup. Moreover, Nadella expressed his belief that smaller companies have a fair opportunity to compete with industry giants like Microsoft and…

[phantomrose96]

My manager and my project lead both gave me glowing glowing reviews on this project (my lead even CC'd my skip-level and skip-skip-level with his praise and they both responded) even after I spent all of January and February worried that I was slipping behind with work because I was busy being an overwhelmed shell of a person

[nabexis]

Actually just checked and I don't see the option on desktop to be opted out of search results? Hey @staff where did that go??

Edit: found it eventually with the help of @pokeybananas (thanks for the help!) It's under visibility

[brujerizzzmo]

The outline used for the default profile picture in Outlook (2010) was Bill Gates’ mugshot for a traffic violation in 1977.

[dragoon-faeren]

Does anyone know where the CEO of Microsoft is? I need to inbed my bass guitar into their skull.

HOW DARE THE KILL TANGO GAMES, I HAVE SOME WORDS OF THE CEO OF MICROSOFT, I JUST NEED TO TALK TO THEM

[wojakgallery]

Title/Name: William Henry Gates III, popularly known as 'Bill Gates', born in (1955). Bio: American businessman, investor, philanthropist, and writer best known for co-founding the software giant Microsoft, along with his friend Paul Allen. At Microsoft, Gates held the positions of chairman, CEO, president, and chief software architect. He was a prominent pioneer of the microcomputer revolution of the 1970s and 1980s. Country: USA Wojak Series: Feels Guy (Variant) Image by: Wojak Gallery Admin Main Tag: Bill Gates Wojak

[missvivisx]

the unity news makes me sick to my stomach. cannot believe I'm at the stage of late capitalism where I'm begging a corporation to strike them down like the fist of an angry god with legal ramifications so brutal this never happens again

[1-7776]

apparently microsoft is basically going to own all of openai now which is.. 😧

[britishbusinessonline]

CrowdStrike Exposes a FUNDAMENTAL Problem in Software

On Friday, the security update from crowd strike caused the biggest IT disaster ever, there’s fundamental problem that I believe lies at the heart of this and that problem will get a lot worse in the future. crowd strike is a cyber security company that helps protect organizations from cyber threats such as malware and ransomware they have a platform Falcon that uses Ai and machine learning to…

[dhallblogs]

Microsoft Global Outage: Cybersecurity flaw causes worldwide IT meltdown.

New Delhi: The world woke up to an unusual morning this Friday, as they planned to start their work day but couldn’t log into their systems. CrowdStrike, a cybersecurity company that provides services to a variety of industries, experienced outages in various regions, which resulted in the cessation of news broadcasts and the cancellation of flights.

ALSO READ MORE- https://apacnewsnetwork.com/2024/07/microsoft-global-outage-cybersecurity-flaw-causes-worldwide-it-meltdown/

[jcmarchi]

Paradox Interactive Closes Tectonic Studio The Same Week It Canceled Its First Game, Life By You

New Post has been published on https://thedigitalinsider.com/paradox-interactive-closes-tectonic-studio-the-same-week-it-canceled-its-first-game-life-by-you/

Paradox Interactive Closes Tectonic Studio The Same Week It Canceled Its First Game, Life By You

Earlier this week, Paradox Interactive announced it was canceling Life By You, a simulation game meant to rival Sims in development at Paradox Tectonic. With Rod Humble, a lead designer on The Sims 2 and The Sims 3, leading Tectonic, fans were hopeful about Life By You, which was set to launch into Early Access earlier this month before an indefinite delay.

That Early Access launch never happened as Life By You was subsequently canceled, and now, in the same week, Paradox Interactive has announced it is closing Tectonic, as reported by Game Developer. 

“This is difficult and drastic news for our colleagues at Tectonic, who’ve worked hard on Life By You’s Early Access release,” Paradox Interactive CEO Fredrik Wester writes in a press release. “Sadly, with the cancelation of their sole project, we have to take the tough decision to close down the studio. We are deeply grateful for their hard work in trying to take Paradox into a new genre.”

[embedded content]

As previously noted, this studio closure is happening shortly after Paradox Interactive canceled development on Life By You. Wester said at the time, “For a long time, we’ve held hopes for Life By You and the game potential we saw it in it, but it is now clear that the game will not be able to meet our expectations. A version that we’d be satisfied with is too far away, and therefore we are taking the difficult decision to cancel the release.” 

In the span of days, Life By You was canceled, and the studio behind it, Tectonic, closed. This is another blow to an industry bleeding developers and studios left and right, and Tectonic’s closure joins an ever-growing list of disheartening closures and layoffs in 2024. 

Earlier this month, Dead by Daylight developer Behaviour Interactive laid off 95 employees. Fae Farm and Dauntless developer Phoenix Labs laid off the majority of its staff and canceled its in-development games back in May, and that same week, Square Enix announced it will begin layoffs as part of “structural reforms.” 

In May, Xbox closed four Bethesda studios, including Hi-Fi Rush developer Tango Gameworks and Redfall studio Arkane Austin. Take-Two Interactive closed Rollerdrome studio Roll7 and Kerbal Space Program 2 studio Intercept Games alongside major layoffs to its indie-publisher Private Division label. That same week, we learned Deliver Us Mars developer Keoken Interactive had laid off nearly its entire staff. 

Elsewhere in the year, EA laid off roughly 670 employees across all departments, resulting in the cancellation of Respawn’s Star Wars FPS game. PlayStation laid off 900 employees across Insomniac, Naughty Dog, Guerrilla, and more, closing down London Studio in the process, too. The day before, Until Dawn developer Supermassive Games announced it laid off 90 employees. 

At the end of January, we learned Embracer Group had canceled a new Deus Ex game in development at Eidos-Montréal and laid off 97 employees in the process. Also in January, Destroy All Humans remake developer Black Forest Games reportedly laid off 50 employees and Microsoft announced it was laying off 1,900 employees across its Xbox, Activision Blizzard, and ZeniMax teams, as well. Outriders studio People Can Fly laid off more than 30 employees in January, and League of Legends company Riot Games laid off 530 employees. 

Lords of the Fallen Publisher CI Games laid off 10 percent of its staff, Unity will lay off 1,800 people by the end of March, and Twitch laid off 500 employees. 

We also learned that Discord had laid off 170 employees, that layoffs happened at PTW, a support studio that’s worked with companies like Blizzard and Capcom, and that SteamWorld Build company, Thunderful Group, let go of roughly 100 people. Dead by Daylight developer Behaviour Interactive also reportedly laid off 45 people, too. 

The hearts of the Game Informer staff are with everyone who’s been affected by layoffs or closures. 

[nail-bat-butch]

i hate you two-factor authentication i hate you bloatware i hate you advertisements i hate you greedy ceo's who prioritize enshittification over making a site that works so users pay for a Thing they use to access their information on their separate device to satiate your corporate greed