Tag: News

• I tried five different cheeseburgers from Burger King, including the Whopper and the Bacon King.
• I thought the Triple Whopper was less flavorful than some of the smaller, cheaper burgers.
• The Whopper impressed me with its flame-grilled patty and classic cheeseburger toppings.

I've tried many different fast-food burgers over the years, and Burger King's cheeseburgers consistently rank among my favorites.

According to an original menu reported by Delish, Burger King has sold cheeseburgers since its inception in the 1950s, but exactly how the chain makes them has changed considerably.

The chain started with simple broiled cheeseburgers, but now the Burger King menu includes cheeseburger melts, seven variations on its classic Whopper, chicken sandwiches, nuggets, fries, and more.

To determine which Burger King burger truly reigns supreme, I compared five different cheeseburgers from the chain. I tried the classic Whopper with cheese, the Triple Whopper with cheese, a plain cheeseburger, a double cheeseburger, and the Bacon King.

Here are how the burgers ranked, from my least favorite to my favorite.

My least favorite cheeseburger I tried was the chain's classic plain cheeseburger.

The cheeseburger from Burger King cost $2.59, excluding tax.

The cheeseburger came with American cheese, pickles, ketchup, and mustard on a sesame-seed bun.

The burger was extremely simple, but I was impressed by the generous serving of toppings. There was a hearty amount of condiments on the burger, and the cheese was thick and perfectly melted.

The sesame-seed bun also added a lot of flavor, but this burger was just a little simple compared to the other burgers I tried.

The flame-grilled burger had a grilled, smoky flavor that worked well with the ketchup and mustard.

Not only was this burger flavorful, but it also provided the best value — priced at $2.59, it was the cheapest option among the cheeseburgers I tried.

I enjoyed this burger a lot, but it could have been improved with an extra patty or more creative ingredients. At the end of the day, it was a basic fast-food cheeseburger.

Next up was the chain's double cheeseburger, which was a step up from the basic cheeseburger.

It cost $3.89, excluding tax and fees.

The double cheeseburger came with two of the chain's beef patties, American cheese, pickles, mustard, and ketchup on a sesame-seed bun.

Like the regular cheeseburger, there was a hearty serving of ketchup and mustard.

The pickle slices were thick and crunchy, and I enjoyed the flavor of the bun.

I thought this burger was certainly a step up from the regular cheeseburger. It packed the same grilled flavor and low price, but the extra patty made it even more flavorful and filling.

The Triple Whopper landed squarely in the middle of my ranking.

The burger cost me $10.79, excluding tax, making it the second-most expensive burger I tried.

The Triple Whopper comes with three quarter-pound beef patties, one slice of cheese, lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, mayonnaise, and ketchup.

The burger patties had a deliciously smoky and savory flavor that gave the sandwich a freshly grilled taste. The lettuce and tomato slices tasted extremely fresh, and I liked the addition of mayonnaise.

However, I thought this burger could have been improved with another slice of cheese between the layers of beef. The cheese's flavor was lost amid all the meat and other toppings.

I thoroughly enjoyed this burger and would certainly order it again — if I have the appetite for it.

This burger was extremely filling, and I would struggle to eat it all, in addition to fries. However, if you have a big appetite or simply love Burger King's beef, this might just be the burger for you.

The burger was also significantly more expensive than the smaller cheeseburgers and the regular Whopper with cheese. However, I don't think the higher price was worth it — the two extra patties were a hindrance, rather than an asset, to the burger.

My second favorite burger was the Bacon King.

It cost $10.99, excluding tax and fees, making it the most expensive burger I tried.

The Bacon King comes with two quarter-pound beef patties, bacon, two slices of cheese, ketchup, and mayonnaise on a sesame-seed bun.

The burger was swimming in mayonnaise and ketchup, but I didn't mind.

I like mayonnaise a lot, but I quickly noticed the generous amount spread on both the burger and the sesame-seed bun. If you're not fond of mayo, you might consider customizing or skipping this burger.

It was the most decadent, filling burger I tried.

The slices of cheese were evenly layered over the burger patties, which had a distinct smoky taste.

The perfectly crispy bacon added even more smoky flavor, and the cheese and condiments added a lot of moisture, which I felt the Triple Whopper lacked.

My favorite Burger King burger — and one of my favorite fast-food burgers, period — is the Whopper with cheese.

Burger King's signature burger has been around since 1957, just four years after the chain opened. Back then, the Whopper cost 37 cents.

Today, it costs $8.29, excluding tax and fees.

A Whopper comes with a quarter-pound beef patty, pickles, onions, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, and mayonnaise. I always add cheese for an additional $0.50.

Immediately, it was evident that this burger would be bursting with flavor. Thick layers of ketchup and mayo spilled from the sides of the burger, but the sizable sesame-seed bun kept all the ingredients together.

I'm not surprised the chain's signature burger is so famous — it was my favorite, by far.

The cheese coated the burger patty, and the lettuce, tomatoes, and onions all tasted very fresh. They added a delicious crunch to the burger.

Even though this burger is a classic, and perhaps not the most creative burger I tried, it was the most satisfying. I also thought it was a great value for the price, and I would definitely order it again and again.

• Ukraine destroyed columns of waiting Russian soldiers with HIMARS, a Ukrainian commander said.
• He said Ukraine targeted them as soon as it got permission to use allied weapons across the border.
• Military experts say Ukraine's ability to use Western-supplied weapons in Russia is aiding its fightback.

Ukraine has been able to destroy columns of Russian soldiers after it got permission from its allies to use their weapons to strike military targets across the border into Russia, a Ukrainian commander has said.

The artillery commander, with the call sign Hefastus, told the Associated Press that Ukrainian HIMARS started firing in the northern Kharkiv region as soon as Ukraine got permission.

"The HIMARS were not silent for the whole day," he said, referring to the US-made High Mobility Artillery Rocket System.

Ukraine got permission from its allies last month to strike military targets in Russia with weapons they'd supplied, reversing a long-held restriction.

"From the first days, Ukrainian forces managed to destroy whole columns of troops along the border waiting for the order to enter Ukraine," Hefastus said, according to the AP.

He said Ukraine couldn't have achieved this without its new permissions, as regular ammunition couldn't reach that far.

Hefastus added that Ukraine was now able to destroy Russian command centers.

His claims have not been independently verified.

Even so, Ukraine appears to have used HIMARS to strike targets in Russia since the restrictions were lifted.

Russia has also been stationing troops close to the border with Ukraine, ready to be called in to fight.

Ukraine's deputy defense minister, Ivan Havryliuk, told the AP that at least 90,000 Russian troops deep in Russian territory were readying for a new assault when the restrictions were lifted.

It's not clear whether any of these were the troops said to be hit by the HIMARS attacks.

In the past, analysts described Ukraine as being forced to fight with one hand behind its back, with Russia using its own territory to resupply its forces and launch drone, missile, and aircraft attacks.

This changed in May when many of Ukraine's allies said it could now use weapons they'd supplied to go after military targets on Russian soil.

The US, which announced its policy change on May 30, didn't go as far as some but still said Ukraine could use weapons it provided to hit into regions across the border from Kharkiv.

This has allowed Ukraine to fight back more forcefully against a new Russian offensive that started in Kharkiv on May 10.

On Tuesday, Ukraine's national guard posted images of what it said were two destroyed Russian Pantsir-S air defense systems, just south of the city of Belgorod. Russian outlets also reported the attack, which was well within range of HIMARS.

While it's unclear exactly which weapons were used, Defense Express reported that the Pantsirs' locations had been compromised to OSINT researchers some six months ago, and went on to suggest the attack had been enabled by the switch in US posture.

Experts say this new reality has had a big impact in Kharkiv, particularly given the Russian border is so close to the fighting. In the past, Russia was able to resupply its forces with troops, ammunition, and equipment and Ukraine could do little to interfere.

George Barros, a Russian-military expert at the US' Institute for the Study of War, told BI that within the first days, there was a "positive difference."

"They've actually helped blunt the Russian offensive at the heart," he said, with Ukraine able to launch "small tactical counterattacks."

Two Ukrainian officials told The Washington Post that some Russian attacks had been reduced, but they added that air bases where it was launching attacks from were out of range of what the US permission allowed Ukraine to hit.

The AP reported that Ukraine's new strike abilities had "greatly slowed Russia's momentum," with local reports saying Ukrainian troops had been able to push forward and reclaim some territory — though the country's military is still under great pressure.

• Bugatti unveiled its new Tourbillon hypercar powered by a 1,800 horsepower V16 hybrid engine. 
• The Tourbillion is named for a mechanism commonly found in high-priced precision timepieces. 
• The Tourbillon starts at 3.8 million EUR or roughly $4.1 million. 

Bugatti recently unveiled its new flagship hypercar, the Tourbillon. The Tourbillon, pronounced toor-bee-yawn, is the successor to Bugatti's recently discontinued Chiron hypercar launched back in 2016.

The Tourbillon is also the first Bugatti in 20 years to abandon the brand's signature quad-turbo W16 engine, developed under the stewardship of Volkswagen Group, in favor of a new V16 hybrid powertrain.

"The Tourbillon had to be incomparable in every respect," Bugatti CTO Emilio Scervo said in a press release. "Our philosophy has been to take any single aspect of Chiron and elevate it, looking for elegant and sophisticated engineering solutions and new technologies to deliver a timeless masterpiece."

VW Group spun off the French hypercar brand in 2021. It is now part of a new joint venture co-owned by Croatian EV supercar maker Rimac and Porsche called Bugatti Rimac.

Unlike the Veyron and Chiron, which were named after famous racing drivers from the company's past, the Tourbillon is named after a mechanism found inside handmade precision timepieces. Tourbillon watches can easily cost in the hundreds of thousands of dollars.

The Tourbillon is still in the testing phase, with customer deliveries expected in 2026.

The Tourbillon's styling is unmistakably Bugatti.

The Tourbillion's styling evolves from the outgoing Chiron's aesthetics. It retains the brand's signature horseshoe grille and the Bugatti Line, which resembles a curved C on the side of the car.

Out back, the Bugatti branding is embedded into a curved light strip that runs the length of the tail.

According to the Bugatti, the Tourbillion's designers sought to balance the desire to create something with enduring beauty, like the timeless Bugatti Atlantic, while also ensuring the aerodynamic performance of a vehicle capable of exceeding 250mph.

The Tourbillion is equipped with a pair of electrically operated upswinging dihedral doors.

This is a departure from the Veyron and Chiron, which both had conventional out-swinging doors.

The Tourbillon's biggest departure from past Bugattis is the engine.

The Tourbillon is powered by a new 8.3 liter naturally aspirated V16 engine paired with three electric motors that come together to produce a total of 1,800 horsepower.

The new V16 engine, developed with assistance from legendary British engineering firm Cosworth, produces 1,000 horsepower without help from the quad turbochargers found in Bugatti's previous engine and can reach 9,000 rpms.

The trio of electric motors, two mounted on the front axle and one on the rear axle, produce 800 horsepower and are paired with a 25 kWh oil-cooled battery pack to give the Tourbillon up to 37 miles in all-electric range.

The Tourbillon will send its power to the road through a new bespoke eight-speed twin-clutch gearbox.

The Tourbillon's occupants will find themselves in what may be the world's most luxurious carbon composite monocoque.

Like its name, the interior of the Tourbillon is inspired by horology, with analog dials at the forefront and digital displays hidden away.

The centerpiece of the interior is the gauge cluster.

The Tourbillon's gauges, designed and built with help from Swiss watchmakers, consist of more than 600 parts made of titanium and gemstones like sapphire and ruby.

The gauges are affixed to the center of the steering wheel, and the wheel's rim rotates around them.

This is a nod to the tourbillon mechanism in watches, which helps the timepieces be more precise. Tourbillons usually consist of a constantly rotating cage surrounding components inside a watch.

The Tourbillon's designers also recognized the incredible pace at which technology changes.

What is modern today can look arcane tomorrow. As a result, technological elements such as the infotainment screen can be retracted when not in use.

Bugatti expects to produce 250 examples of the Tourbillon.

Each unit carries a starting price of 3.8 million euros, or roughly $4.1 million.

• "TikTok Star Murders" tells the story of content creator Ali Abulaban killing his wife and her friend. 
• Ali Abulaban recorded the killing, and the audio was used in the documentary.
• Ali Abulaban was convicted of murdering Ana Abulaban and Rayburn Barron.

Peacock's "TikTok Star Murders" tells the story of content creator Ali Abulaban murdering his wife, Ana Abulaban, and her friend Rayburn Barron, one month after she accused her husband of domestic abuse.

The documentary, which was released on Tuesday, details how the couple met in 2014, and by 2019 Ali Abulaban had started going viral after he shared comedy sketches on his account, @JinnKidd. He had nearly one million followers when he murdered his wife on October 21, 2021, at their home in San Diego.

Ana Abulaban's close friends told the documentary that the couple's marriage started to break down as a result of Ali Abulaban's controlling behavior. They said he controlled how she spent her time and berated her for not having sex with him.

Ana Abulaban, who was 28 at the time, went to the authorities in September 2021 and accused her husband of domestic abuse, The Los Angeles Times reported.

She asked him to move out of their apartment in San Diego's East Village and into a hotel on October 18, 2021.

During his trial at the San Diego Superior Court in May 2024, Ali Abulaban testified that he believed his wife was cheating on him, so he installed the Discord app on his daughter's iPad to spy on her, per CourtTV.

He said that he heard her talking to a man he didn't know, and then drove at "90 miles an hour" from his hotel to their apartment under the influence of cocaine.

When he got to the building, he started recording on his iPhone. He entered the apartment and saw his wife "cuddling" Barron.

"And before I could stop myself, I just fucking snapped and my gun was in my hand and next thing I'm shooting and, and I can't stop, I'm just shooting," he told the court.

"I'm like, I'm in the passenger seat of my own body. I can't stop it. And I hear Ana screaming and crying. I don't even remember shooting Ana, I just remember running back to the front door."

"TikTok Star Murders" features the audio Ali Abulaban captured as he murdered his wife. Several gunshots can be heard as well as Barron and Ana Abulaban shouting.

Executive producer Elizabeth Fischer explained to Variety in an interview published on Tuesday why the "brutal" audio was used in the documentary.

She said: "It was so important for the larger conversations about domestic violence, but also for the argument over whether or not this was a premeditated double murder.

"It was really important to stress the amount of time that took place between when he pressed record and rode up 35 floors."

The true crime documentary is the latest production by 50 Cent's G-Unit Films and Television. Since 2014, the company has produced the crime drama "Power" and several spin-offs. In April 2024, the rapper revealed that the company had expanded and unveiled its first studio facility in Shreveport, Louisana.

Abulaban was convicted of murder

At the end of the trial in May 2024, Ali Abulaban was convicted on two counts of first-degree murder for killing his wife and Barron. The jury decided that it was a premeditated murder.

Abubalan is due to be sentenced on June 28 in San Diego.

Fischer told Variety that Ali Abulaban was offered the chance to appear in the documentary but, "respectfully declined based on his impending trial."

• Forbes just declared OpenAI CEO Sam Altman a billionaire. 
• Before OpenAI, he was well-known in Silicon Valley as president of startup accelerator Y-Combinator.
• Here's how the serial entrepreneur got his start — and ended up helming the most-watched AI company.

2024 is shaping up to be a big year for OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

While the 39-year-old entrepreneur has been a household name in Silicon Valley for years now, the rest of the world has got to know him through the success of OpenAI's artificial intelligence chatbot ChatGPT, launched in 2022.

Then, this year, OpenAI launched GPT-4o — its new large language model. A few weeks later, Tim Cook announced at Apple's Worldwide Developer Conference in June that the tech giant would partner with OpenAI to bring ChatGPT to iPhones. And in April, Altman was added to Forbes' billionaires list, marking yet another milestone.

Although his Microsoft-backed company has grown wildly popular over the last two years, Forbes attributes Altman's billionaire status primarily to his other investments.

Before the AI boom, Altman spent years as president of startup accelerator Y Combinator, and he owns stakes in Reddit, a nuclear fusion startup known as Helion, and more.

Here's a look at Altman's life and career so far.

Altman grew up in St. Louis, Missouri, and he was a computer whiz from a young age.

He learned how to program and take apart a Macintosh computer when he was 8 years old, according to The New Yorker. He attended John Burroughs School, a private, non-sectarian college-preparatory school in St. Louis.

 

 

He told The New Yorker that having a Mac helped him with his sexuality. Altman came out to his parents when he was 16.

"Growing up gay in the Midwest in the two-thousands was not the most awesome thing," he told The New Yorker. "And finding AOL chat rooms was transformative. Secrets are bad when you're eleven or twelve."

Altman came out as gay to the whole community after a Christian group boycotted an assembly at his school that was about sexuality.

"What Sam did changed the school," his college counselor, Madelyn Gray, told The New Yorker. "It felt like someone had opened up a great big box full of all kinds of kids and let them out into the world."

Altman studied computer science at Stanford University for two years before he and two of his classmates dropped out to work full time on their mobile app.

The app shared a user's location with their friends. Loopt was part of the first group of eight companies at startup accelerator Y Combinator. Each startup got $6,000 per founder, and Loopt was in the same batch as Reddit, according to The Business of Business.

Loopt eventually reached a $175 million valuation, but it didn't garner enough interest, so the founders sold it for $43 million in 2012.

The $43 million sale price was close to how much it had raised from investors, The Wall Street Journal reported. The company was acquired by Green Dot, a banking company known for prepaid cards.

One of Loopt's cofounders, Nick Sivo, and Altman dated for nine years, but they broke up after they sold the company.

After Loopt, Altman founded a venture fund called Hydrazine Capital, and raised $21 million.

 That included a large part of the $5 million he got from Loopt, and an investment from billionaire entrepreneur and venture capitalist Peter Thiel. Altman invested 75% of that money into YC companies, and led Reddit's Series B fundraising round.

He told The New Yorker, "you want to invest in messy, somewhat broken companies. You can treat the warts on top, and because of the warts the company will be hugely underpriced."

In 2014, at the age of 28, Altman was chosen by Y Combinator founder Paul Graham to succeed him as president of the startup accelerator.

While he was YC president, Altman taught a lecture series at Stanford called "How to Start a Startup," in the fall of 2014. The next year, Altman was featured on the Forbes 30 Under 30 list for venture capital at 29 years old.

After he became YC president, he wanted to let more science and engineering startups into each batch.

He chose a fission and a fusion startup for YC because he wanted to start a nuclear-energy company of his own. He invested his own money in both companies and served on their boards.

Mark Andreessen, cofounder of venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, said to The New Yorker, "Under Sam, the level of YC's ambition has gone up 10x."

 

He finds interesting ways to spend his free time.

Altman once told two YC founders that he likes racing cars and had five, including two McLarens and an old Tesla, according to The New Yorker. He's said he likes racing cars and renting planes to fly all over California.

He told the founders of the startup Shypmate that "I prep for survival," and warned of either a "lethal synthetic virus," AI attacking humans, or nuclear war.

"I try not to think about it too much," Altman told the founders in 2016. "But I have guns, gold, potassium iodide, antibiotics, batteries, water, gas masks from the Israeli Defense Force, and a big patch of land in Big Sur I can fly to."

Altman's mom is a dermatologist and told The New Yorker, "Sam does keep an awful lot tied up inside. He'll call and say he has a headache—and he'll have Googled it, so there's some cyber-chondria in there, too. I have to reassure him that he doesn't have meningitis or lymphoma, that it's just stress."

Altman has a brother, Jack, who is a cofounder and CEO at Lattice, an employee management platform.

Along with their brother Max, the Altmans launched a fund in 2020 called Apollo that is focused on funding "moonshot" companies. They're startups that are financially risky but could potentially pay off with a breakthrough development.

 

In 2015, Altman cofounded OpenAI with Elon Musk, CEO of Tesla and SpaceX at the time.

Their goal for the non-profit artificial intelligence company was to make sure AI doesn't wipe out humans.

"We discussed what is the best thing we can do to ensure the future is good?" Elon Musk told The New York Times in 2015. "We could sit on the sidelines or we can encourage regulatory oversight, or we could participate with the right structure with people who care deeply about developing A.I. in a way that is safe and is beneficial to humanity."

Some of Silicon Valley's most prominent names pledged $1 billion to OpenAI along with Altman and Musk, including Reid Hoffman, the cofounder of LinkedIn, and Thiel.

After the 2016 election, Altman, who tweeted that he voted against Donald Trump, said he decided to talk to 100 Trump supporters around the US to understand what they did and didn't like about the president.

 He also wanted to know "what would convince them not to vote for him in the future." In a thread on X, formerly Twitter, Altman said he was "voting against Trump because I believe the principles he stands for represent an unacceptable threat to America."

He also said Thiel, who was still working with YC at the time, "is a high profile supporter of Trump" and that "I disagree with this."

But, he said, "YC is not going to fire someone for supporting a major party nominee."

YC and Thiel stopped working together a year later in 2017 for unspecified reasons.

During his interviews, Altman said he "did not expect to talk to so many Muslims, Mexicans, Black people, and women in the course of this project."

He said almost everyone he approached was willing to talk to him, but they also didn't want to share their names in fear of being "targeted by those people in Silicon Valley if they knew I voted for him." Altman said one of the people he talked to in Silicon Valley made him sign a confidentiality agreement before talking because she was scared of losing her job for supporting Trump.

Altman stepped down as YC president in March 2019 to focus on OpenAI. He stayed in a chairman role at the accelerator.

At a StrictlyVC event in 2019, Altman was asked how OpenAI planned to make a profit, and he said the "honest answer is we have no idea."

Altman said OpenAI had "never made any revenue" and that it had "no current plans to make revenue." 

"We have no idea how we may one day generate revenue," he said at the time, according to TechCrunch.

Altman became CEO of OpenAI in May 2019 after it turned away from being a nonprofit company into a "capped profit" corporation.

"We want to increase our ability to raise capital while still serving our mission, and no pre-existing legal structure we know of strikes the right balance," OpenAI said on its blog. "Our solution is to create OpenAI LP as a hybrid of a for-profit and nonprofit — which we are calling a 'capped-profit' company."

OpenAI received a $1 billion investment from Microsoft in 2019.

Altman flew to Seattle to meet with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, where he demonstrated OpenAI's AI models for him, WSJ reported.  The pair announced their business partnership on LinkedIn.

Current and former insiders at OpenAI told Fortune that after Altman took over as CEO, and after the investment from Microsoft, the company started focusing more on developing natural language processing.

Altman and OpenAI's former chief scientist, Ilya Sutskever, said the move to focus on large language models was the best way for the company to reach artificial general intelligence, or AGI, a system that has broad human-level cognitive abilities.

 

In 2021, Altman and cofounders Alex Blania and Max Novendstern launched a global cryptocurrency project called Worldcoin.

It wanted to give everyone in the world access to crypto by scanning their iris with an orb. The company was started in 2020, but stopped operating in a few countries in 2022 due to logistics issues, Bloomberg reported. In January, Worldcoin tweeted that it had reached 1 million people and has onboarded over 150,000 first-time crypto users.

Under Altman's tenure as CEO, OpenAI released popular generative AI tools to the public, including DALL-E and ChatGPT.

Both DALL-E and ChatGPT are known as "generative" AI, meaning the bot creates its own artwork and text based on information it is fed.

After ChatGPT was released on November 30, Altman tweeted that it had reached over 1 million users in five days.

ChatGPT was made public so OpenAI could use feedback from users to improve the bot.

A few days after its launch, Altman said that it "is incredibly limited, but good enough at some things to create a misleading impression of greatness." Altman posted that ChatGPT was "great" for "fun creative inspiration," but "not such a good idea" to look up facts.

ChatGPT recently began testing a paid version of ChatGPT called "ChatGPT Professional" that is supposed to give better access to the bot. In December, Altman posted that OpenAI "will have to monetize it somehow at some point; the compute costs are eye-watering."

In January 2023, Microsoft again announced it was making a "multibillion dollar" investment into OpenAI.

Although specifics of the investment were not shared, it is believed it is worth $10 billion. Before Microsoft's investment, other venture capitalists wanted to buy shares from OpenAI employees in a tender offer that valued the company at around $29 billion.

Altman is still interested in nuclear fusion and invested $375 million in Helion Energy in 2022.

"Helion is more than an investment to me," Altman told TechCrunch. "It's the other thing beside OpenAI that I spend a lot of time on. I'm just super excited about what's going to happen there."

He told TechCrunch that he's "happy there's a fusion race," to build a low-cost fusion energy system that can eventually power the Earth.

 

Last year, OpenAI launched its pilot subscription plan for ChatGPT Plus, which costs $20 a month.

People who pay $20 a month for ChatGPT Plus get benefits such as access to the site even when traffic is high, faster responses from the bot, and first access to new features and ChatGPT improvements.

The subscription is only available for people in the US, and OpenAI said it will soon start inviting people on the waitlist to join.

Altman wrote that OpenAI's mission is to make sure AGI "benefits all of humanity.

"If AGI is successfully created, this technology could help us elevate humanity by increasing abundance, turbocharging the global economy, and aiding in the discovery of new scientific knowledge that changes the limits of possibility," Altman wrote on OpenAI's blog.

Despite its potential, Altman said artificial general intelligence comes with "serious risk of misuse, drastic accidents, and societal disruption." But instead of stopping its development, Altman said "society and the developers of AGI have to figure out how to get it right."

Altman went on to share the principles that OpenAI "care about most," including "the benefits of, access to, and governance of AGI to be widely and fairly shared."

Altman said he and OpenAI are "a little bit scared" of AI's potential as it continues to develop.

In an interview with ABC News, Altman said he thinks "people should be happy that we're a little bit scared" of generative AI systems as they develop.

Altman said he doesn't think AI systems should only be developed in a lab.

"You've got to get these products out into the world and make contact with reality, make our mistakes while the stakes are low," he said.

 

 

 

In April 2023, OpenAI announced the option to turn off chat history in ChatGPT so the data can't be used to train and improve its models.

In a blog post, the company said it hoped the option to turn off chat history "provides an easier way to manage your data than our existing opt-out process."

When a user turns off their chat history, new conversations will be kept for 30 days for OpenAI to review them for abuse, then are permanently deleted.

In his first appearance before Congress, Altman told a Senate panel there should be a government agency to grant licenses to companies working on advanced AI.

Altman told lawmakers there should be an agency that grants licenses for companies that are working on AI models "above a certain scale of capabilities." He also said the agency should be able to revoke licenses from companies that don't follow safety rules.

"I think if this technology goes wrong, it can go quite wrong," Altman said. "And we want to be vocal about that, we want to work with the government to prevent that from happening."

OpenAI launched a ChatGPT app for iPhones and Android users in 2023.

The app, which is free, can answer text-based and spoken questions using Whisper, another OpenAI product that is a speech-recognition model. Users who have a subscription to ChatGPT Plus can also access it through the app.

Altman met with leaders in Europe to discuss AI regulations and said OpenAI has "no plans to leave" the EU, despite his earlier concerns over the EU's proposed AI Act.

At the start of his trip, Altman told reporters in London that he was concerned about the EU's proposed AI Act that focuses on regulating AI and protecting Europeans from AI risks.

"The details really matter," Altman said, according to the Financial Times. "We will try to comply, but if we can't comply, we will cease operating."

However, he shared on X later in the week that OpenAI is "excited to continue to operate here and of course have no plans to leave."

In an October 2023 interview, Altman expressed "deep misgivings" about people befriending AI.

Altman made it clear that he doesn't believe humans should try to be friends with AI in an interview during Wall Street Journal's Tech Live event.

"I personally really have deep misgivings about this vision of the future where everyone is super close to AI friends, and not more so with their human friends," Altman said.

 

On November 17, 2023, OpenAI shocked tech fans by announcing that Altman would no longer be the company's CEO.

In November, the OpenAI board of directors announced that Altman would be stepping down from his role as CEO and leaving the board, "effective immediately."

In a blog post, the board said it "no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI," and added that Altman was "not consistently candid in his communications."

"We are grateful for Sam's many contributions to the founding and growth of OpenAI," a statement from OpenAI's board says. "At the same time, we believe new leadership is necessary as we move forward."

Altman issued his own statement via a post on X.

"i loved my time at openai. it was transformative for me personally, and hopefully the world a little bit. most of all i loved working with such talented people," Altman wrote.

He added: "will have more to say about what's next later."

But days after the ouster, Sam Altman returned to the helm of OpenAI.

After a chaotic weekend over his firing, Altman and OpenAI announced that he would return to the tech company as CEO.

"We have reached an agreement in principle for Sam Altman to return to OpenAI as CEO with a new initial board of Bret Taylor (Chair), Larry Summers, and Adam D'Angelo," the company wrote on X.

In January, Altman confirmed he married his partner Oliver Mulherin.

Altman is married. The OpenAI CEO wed his partner Oliver Mulherin, with photos from the wedding circulating on social media in January 2024.

An attendee of the wedding confirmed to Business Insider that the pictures weren't AI-generated. His husband is an Australian software engineer who previously worked at Meta, according to his LinkedIn profile.

OpenAI launched its text-to-video model Sora.

In February, OpenAI unveiled Sora to the public. The program — named after the Japanese word for "sky" — creates up to 0ne-minute long videos from text prompts. 

"We're teaching AI to understand and simulate the physical world in motion, with the goal of training models that help people solve problems that require real-world interaction," OpenAI wrote in Sora's announcement.

Sora is still in the midst of risk and harm assessments by red teamers, but Altman is already showing off its capabilities on social media, and the company is reportedly shopping the tool around to Hollywood.

Altman and his husband signed the Giving Pledge in 2024.

A few weeks after Forbes declared Altman a billionaire, he and his partner signed the Giving Pledge, vowing to give away most of his fortune.

"We would not be making this pledge if it weren't for the hard work, brilliance, generosity, and dedication to improve the world of many people that built the scaffolding of society that let us get here," the pledge letter read.

They continued: "There is nothing we can do except feel immense gratitude and commit to pay it forward, and do what we can to build the scaffolding up a little higher."

OpenAI introduced GPT-4o in May and demonstrated its capabilities.

During its "Spring Update" on May 13, OpenAI announced GPT-4o, an updated version of its large language model that powers ChatGPT. OpenAI CTO Mira Murati made the announcement, and Altman didn't make an appearance despite actively promoting the event on X. 

Altman might've been absent from the presentation, but the demonstrations of ChatGPT's voice and video capabilities created buzz online. It also led to Altman and his company being called out by actor Scarlett Johansson, who alleged that the OpenAI chatbot Sky's voice sounded "eerily similar" to her own after she declined a partnership.

Altman's post on X referencing a movie in which Johansson voices someone's virtual girlfriend was quickly called into question, and the company soon said that it would not move forward with the voice heard in the demo.

Apple announced a partnership with OpenAI at the Worldwide Developer Conference in June.

After much debate about how it would enter the AI arms race, Apple announced at WWDC 2024 that it would partner with OpenAI to close the gap between it and its rivals.

Although Bloomberg reported that Apple isn't paying OpenAI in cash, the tech titan's solid installed base of over two billion users means more people may use ChatGPT if it comes integrated with Siri. According to the presentation, Siri will be able to handle more complex requests with help from ChatGPT.

Altman was spotted attending WWDC the day the partnership was announced and speaking to high-ranking Apple employees ahead of the keynote. 

Correction: February 2, 2023 — An earlier version of this story defined AGI incorrectly and listed the incorrect age at which Altman was named president of Y Combinator. AGI in this context stands for artificial general intelligence. Altman became president of Y Combinator at 28, not 31.

• Microsoft's AI chief, Mustafa Suleyman, has laid out his main goals for the company.
• The DeepMind cofounder is overseeing key teams, including Bing, Edge, and Copilot.
• In a podcast chat with Seth Rosenberg, Suleyman said he wanted to "uplevel" Copilot's quality.

Microsoft's newly installed AI chief, Mustafa Suleyman, is keen to ensure that the Big Tech company is not underestimated.

On a recent podcast with Seth Rosenberg, Suleyman explained his new responsibilities at the company. He said he oversaw key teams, including Bing and Edge, and Copilot, Microsoft's flagship AI product.

Suleyman added that he'd been impressed with Microsoft's scale and reach since joining the company in March.

"The quality of products and their scale and reach is sort of much greater than you might think as a kind of default Silicon Valley person who had grown up in Google," he said.

He said the company's reputation in Silicon Valley needed a "rethink." Despite being one of the most valuable companies in the world, Microsoft has somewhat existed in the shadow of its old rival, Google, for the last decade.

Suleyman cofounded DeepMind before Google acquired it. After the acquisition, he spent two years at Google as a vice president of AI product management and AI policy.

After parting ways with the company in 2022, Suleyman cofounded Inflection AI, which Microsoft later acquired. He was then installed as CEO of Microsoft AI to lead the company's AI efforts.

Suleyman said his main goal at the company was to "uplevel the quality of Copilot."

"We're rapidly building some of the best models in the world, partnering very closely with OpenAI, building on top of all of OpenAI models and infrastructure, fine-tuning their models," he said, adding the next phase of AI assistants Microsft was eyeing focused on memory and personalization.

"Your AI should remember everything about you, all your context, all your personal data, everything that you've said and be there to support you and be your aid and your sidekick you know throughout your life. That's what we're going to be focused on," he said.

Microsoft's Copilot has proved relatively popular with users. The company benefited from being quick to market with the product, beating Google's rival effort by several months.

However, Business Insider previously reported that one of the top complaints from Microsoft's customers is that Copilot doesn't perform as well as OpenAI's ChatGPT.

Microsoft has said customers aren't using the new tools properly and is paying a partner to produce videos to teach customers how to write better prompts.

Representatives for Microsoft did not immediately respond to a request for comment from BI made outside normal working hours.

• Singapore is the most expensive city for high-net-worth individuals, according to a new report.
• The Asian city-state is followed by Hong Kong and London in Julius Baer's Lifestyle Index.
• The ranking takes into account the costs of housing, jewelry, whiskey, and hotel suites.

If you've got millions in the bank and you want to spend them slowly, don't move to Singapore.

The Asian city-state is the most expensive major global city for high-net-worth individuals (HNWIs) to live in, according to a new report.

Singapore tops Julius Baer's Lifestyle Index, released annually by the Swiss bank. It's followed by Hong Kong and London.

Shanghai has dropped down the rankings from last year, falling from second to fourth place.

Julius Baer says the index analyzes the cost of goods and services representative of "living extremely well" in 25 major global cities. These include the costs of prime real estate, jewelry, whiskey, boarding school, business-class flights, luxury hotel suites, laser-eye surgery, and MBAs.

"This provides an overview of the relative cost of maintaining a high-net-worth lifestyle in various major urban centres," the bank said.

Julius Baer described Singapore as a "highly desirable" place to live and work in, referring to its politics, healthcare, crime rate, public transport, and currency. "The Singaporean government works hard to make the country attractive to global business and wealthy people, and the currency remains strong," the bank said.

This has helped push up prices. Of the 25 cities on Julius Baer's list, Singapore had the most expensive vehicle prices, second-highest childbirth costs, and third-priciest residential property.

As of June 2023, just under six million people lived in the city-state, which has an aging population. It has a life expectancy of 83 years — 5.5 years higher than that of the US — and a low fertility rate of less than 1.0.

Singapore has the fourth-highest number of millionaires in the world, according to a ranking of cities by investment-migration consultancy Henley & Partners that used data from December 2023. Singapore had nearly 250,000 millionaires as well as more than 300 people worth at least $100 million, per the report, which calculated that the city's millionaire population had grown by 64% in a decade.

Julius Baer listed Hong Kong as the second-most expensive city for HNWIs of the 25 on the list, with the second-highest residential property costs. Hong Kong, which had 7.4 million residents as of its 2021 census, has nearly 150,000 millionaire residents, according to data from Henley & Partners.

Julius Baer said that, across the globe, the greatest price increases between 2023 and 2024 were for premium consumer items like fashion and jewelry, "where pricing has been rising steeply for several years." This is due to rising material, energy, and labor costs as well as strong currencies in Europe, where many luxury houses are based.

Every European city included in the ranking — Barcelona, Frankfurt, London, Milan, Monaco, Paris, and Zurich — moved up the list this year. Zurich, described by Julius Baer as "this year's runaway star performer," shot up eight places in the ranking to become the sixth most expensive city for HNWIs on its list, which the bank attributed to the strength of the Swiss franc.

The 25 global cities in Julius Baer's report, listed from most- to least-expensive for HNWIs

1. Singapore
2. Hong Kong
3. London
4. Shanghai
5. Monaco
6. Zurich
7. New York
8. Paris
9. São Paulo
10. Milan
11. Sydney
12. Dubai
13. Taipei
14. Jakarta
15. Miami
16. Mexico City
17. Bangkok
18. Barcelona
19. Frankfurt
20. Mumbai
21. Manila
22. Santiago de Chile
23. Tokyo
24. Vancouver
25. Johannesburg

• I'm a Sephora employee, so I know the best products to stock up on to prepare for the summer.
• The Sephora Collection Love the Lift curling-and-volumizing waterproof mascara doesn't flake on me.
• The Estée Lauder double-wear stay-in-place foundation keeps my skin looking flawless all season.

Sephora offers tons of great products, and as an employee, I'm always looking to find the best ones.

Over the nearly two years I've worked at Sephora, I've loved stocking up on the best makeup for each season. This summer, I'm focusing on products that will look good no matter how hot it gets.

Luckily, the store carries plenty of long-lasting, sweatproof beauty items that are sure to withstand the summertime heat. Here are five beauty products I'd recommend grabbing at Sephora to prepare for summer.

The Sephora Collection Love the Lift curling-and-volumizing waterproof mascara doesn't flake on me at all.

The Sephora Collection Love the Lift waterproof mascara is by far one of my favorite products for the summer. I like that it's waterproof, so I can wear it at the beach or to other summertime events without worrying about my mascara running.

I've worn it in the pool, and it's never flaked or left me with "raccoon eyes." I also love that the formula is made with wax, so it curls and lifts my lashes beautifully.

The Estée Lauder double-wear stay-in-place foundation lasts all day, even in the heat.

This liquid foundation has a beautiful matte finish and can last up to 24 hours on the skin, making it perfect for busy summer days. I find this oil-free foundation lasts in hot, humid weather while still feeling lightweight and comfortable.

I wear the shade 2N2 Buff, which is a light-medium color with subtle golden undertones.

I use the One/Size On 'Til Dawn mattifying waterproof setting spray when I need my makeup to stay in place all day.

This waterproof setting spray gives my skin a matte finish that lasts all day. It's made with green-tea extract and witch hazel, which help tighten pores and absorb oil, respectively.

It also has a transfer-proof formula, which means it won't easily rub off and will keep my makeup in place all day through the heat. Even if I'm sweating, I know my makeup isn't going anywhere as long as I'm wearing this setting spray. 

I love the formula of the Kosas Blush is Life dimensional-and-brightening blush.  

This talc-free powder blush is made with squalane and hyaluronic acid to keep skin hydrated and balanced. The silky smooth blush melts into my skin and seamlessly blends to create a radiant look.

The blushes come in buildable, dimensional pink, orange, and mauve hues for a long-wearing, healthy flush of color on the cheeks. I have the shade Blissed, which is a perfect combination of peach and pink.

The Fenty Skin Hydra Vizor Huez tinted moisturizer looks flawless on my skin.

This lightweight moisturizer with SPF protection makes my skin look glowy and plump each time I apply it. It can also help reduce the appearance of pores and dark spots.

This two-in-one moisturizer and sunscreen has SPF 30, so it's perfect for wearing at the beach or out in the sun. It gives me natural-looking coverage and comes in various tints — I wear shade four.

• Warning: Spoilers ahead for "Perfect Match" season two.
• In season two, "Love Is Blind" alum Micah Lussier couples up with "Dated & Related" star Kaz Bishop.
• Here's an update on their on their relationship. 

Micah Lussier said she broke up with Kaz Bishop after he kissed another contestant after "Perfect Match" season two finished filming.

Micah was a contestant on the latest season of "Perfect Match" after she tried and failed to find a husband on Netflix's most popular reality show, "Love Is Blind."

In episode two, Micah paired up with "Dated & Related" alum Kaz Bishop and the pair won two couples' challenges in the season.

But their relationship was a roller coaster in the second half of the season after Kaz continually flirted with new contestants and Micah questioned her partner's loyalty.

This came to a head in episode nine when the pair had a screaming match. Micah was angry with Kaz for talking to a third new contestant, Christine Obanor, and kissing Holly in a game. Kaz was annoyed that Micah told other contestants that they were the weakest couple.

They broke up, and Kaz matched up with Christine, and Micah paired up with Izzy Zapata.

In the following episode, Kaz had second thoughts and spoke to Micah about rebuilding their relationship. Micah didn't immediately give in but eventually decided to match with Kaz.

At the end of the season, they were still coupled up, but the relationship didn't last long.

In an article published by Netflix's Tudum on Monday, Micah said that they broke off the relationship before they left Mexico, where the series was filmed.

Kaz said Micah cut him off after hearing rumors that he kissed another cast member, who was not named, after the finale.

"Before we even made it off the show, she sent me a text message saying that she truly hates me," he said. "It escalated very quickly, but she was messaging other people."

During Wednesday's episode of "The Viall Files" podcast, Micah confirmed that the alleged kiss led to the breakup, saying it happened when she had left their hotel for a press day.

"I looked at him, and for a lack of a classier way, I was like, 'You're dead to me. Never speak to me again,'" Micah said. "And I never talked to him again."

Micah said that the only reason she stuck by Kaz in the show was because she wasn't interested in anyone else.

"In real life, I don't care. I don't have time for it. There's other options. Like, get the hell out of here. Pack your bags," Micah said.

Micah and Kaz do follow each other on social media, and Micah said they have spoken to each other again recently.

But, they both seem to have moved on from the relationship.

Kaz told Entertainment Tonight in June that he's in a relationship with another person, though he did not name them.

Meanwhile, Micah has posted several TikTok videos about going on dates with other people.

Micah also told Tudum that she was going to keep her love life private for now.

"There's going to be a hard launch when I have a ring on my finger and that will be the next time you guys hear from me," she said.

"Perfect Match" season two is available on Netflix.

Correction: June 17, 2024 — An earlier version of this story misstated the number of episodes in the spoiler warning. There were nine episodes, not six.

• North Korean soldiers sent to aid Russia in Ukraine would be "cannon fodder," the Pentagon said.
• The two nations signed a new security pact, and some Korean units look set to go to Ukraine.
• Russia is known for treating its soldiers as highly disposable and has suffered high death tolls.

North Korean troops that are sent to Ukraine to aid in Russia's war would become "cannon fodder," the Pentagon said.

Pentagon Press Secretary Maj. Gen. Pat Ryder said on Tuesday that "I think that if I were North Korean military personnel management, I would be questioning my choices on sending my forces to be cannon fodder in an illegal war against Ukraine."

Ryder was responding to a question about North Korea potentially dispatching army engineering units to Ukraine's eastern Donetsk region, which is occupied by Russia.

According to South Korea's TV Chosun, citing a South Korean government official and referenced by Reuters, North Korea is planning to send construction and engineering forces to occupied Ukraine as soon as next month for rebuilding work.

Earlier this month, Russia and North Korea signed a pact agreeing to give each other military assistance if the other is attacked.

Countries including the US and Japan condemned the move, with South Korea saying it was considering sending weapons to Ukraine as a result. South Korea's president described the pact as a threat to his nation's security.

Ryder described North Korea potentially sending military forces to Russia as "certainly something to keep an eye on," and hinted at the high number of Russian casualties throughout the war.

The UK Ministry of Defence said at the end of May that the total number of killed or wounded Russian soldiers since February 2022 was around 500,000.

It also said that the average daily number of Russian personnel casualties in May was over 1,200.

Russia is known for treating its own troops as highly disposable.

This includes through using "meat wave" tactics, where it sends waves of poorly trained and unsupported soldiers toward Ukrainian positions to try to overwhelm them.

A Russian soldier who plans offensives said this month that he has to send men forward knowing they will likely die, but doesn't tell them how low their chances of survival are.

"I can't tell the men, otherwise they wouldn't fight with the hope of winning," he said.