Microsoft Hires OpenAI Co-Founder Altman; Hostage Talks Progress in Israel-Hamas War

On today's podcast: 1) OpenAI co-founder Sam Altman is joining Microsoft to lead its AI effort after the board replaced him with Twitch’s ex-CEO, a stunning reversal for the widely respected tech-evangelist who helped jumpstart the artificial intelligence boom. 2) Israeli forces engaged in heavy fighting with Hamas in the northern Gaza Strip overnight as the US said it was optimistic about a deal to free hostages held by the militant group. 3) Elon Musk railed against “bogus” media reports accusing him of antisemitism, issuing his strongest response yet after endorsing antisemitic content in a post on X that provoked outrage and alienated advertisers like Apple Inc. 4) Rosalynn Carter, who broke new ground as an activist US first lady by attending her husband’s Cabinet meetings and leading a presidential effort to improve care for the mentally ill, all while raising a young daughter at the White House, has died. She was 96. 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 a wild weekend in the world of artificial intelligence. Less than seventy two hours after he was ousted at OpenAI, the company behind chat GPT, which he helped to create, Sam Aldman has now been hired by Microsoft. He's going to lead Microsoft's new in house artificial intelligence team. Bloomberg Original's host A Zimazhar, author of AI newsletter Exponential View, says Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella didn't waste time nabbing old men. Satya has moved very quickly to shore up the commitments he has made to his customers. Microsoft has made a big bet on open ai, and the technology was now powering so many Microsoft products, including their most premium office Suite through the co pilot that was sort of part supported by OpenAI. So I think this is a very very rapid move on his part to ensure that Microsoft can continue to be a leader in developing and deploying AI systems for enceerprises. Bloomberg Original's host A zim Oshar says Greg Brockman and open ai co founder who also left, is going to be joining Altman at Microsoft as well, and right now shares of Microsoft are hire by two and a half percent in early trading. Well, Nathan Altman was fired on Friday after the board of open Ai said they lost confidence in him as a leader, and Bloomberg's Rachel Metz says open Ai offered few clues as to the reasons for the departure. Open ai leadership has put out memos internally at the company, saying that the board hasn't said that there was any quote mal season or anything like that, so it's not totally clear what the board was initially even accusing him of doing when it got rid of him, and Bloomberg's Rachel Metz says open AI's board hired former Twitch chief Emitted Sheer as chief executive. Microsoft CEO Sunny and Adela said his company looks forward to working with Sheer and remains admitted to the open Ai relationship. Well Karen, Another big name in tech is in the news this morning for a very different reason. Elon Musk is defending himself after an anti Semitic furor has deepened. More on that this morning from Bloomberg's John Tucker, John and Nathan Musk posted on x that he is not anti Semitic and he wishes only the best for humanity. A backlash erupted last week after the head of Tesla and AX agreed with a post that said Jewish people hold a dialectical hatred of white people advertised there's like Apple and Walt Disney pulled away from Max. What we used to know is Twitter. The Financial Times Meantime reports that advertising executives privately urged X CEO Linda Yakarino over the weekend to resign in order to save her reputation. A Musk is a track record of promoting hate speech, but not everyone is abandoned Musk. Hedge fund manager Bill Ackman was among those who leapt a Musk's defense. I'm John Tucker, Bloomberg Radio, Right, John, Thank you now. To the latest. In the Middle East, the White House says a deal is as close as it's ever been for Hamas to release hostages in exchange for Israel foreing Palestinian women and children from its prisons. Deputy National Security Advisor John Finer says the agreement could involve a multi day pause in the fighting in Gaza. That would first and foremost enable the hostages to actually be released safely, but that would also make it much easier to both bring humanitarian assistance into Gaza and also distribute that assistance. John Finer at the White House spoke on ABC's This Week Heard Sundays on Bloomberg Radio. Israel also released video of a tunnel chef near the Alshifa Hospital in Gaza City. Rear Admiral and Daniel Hungary with the Israel Defense Forces says it proves Hamas used the facility as a command center. Hamas was hiding and murdering our hostages in Shifa Hospital. Hamas was building terror tunnels underneath Shifa Hospital. Israel's government also says around back who he wearbules and Yemen hijacked a cargo ship in the Red Sea, being a key global shipping route elsewhere globally. In Argentina, Karen libertarian outsider Javier Malay will become the country's new president. Malay's promising a radical shakeup to fix decades of policy mismanagement. Speaking to crowds in Buenos Aires, the president to like to stress the need for immediate action, promise the situation in Argentina is critical. The changes that this country needs are drastic. There's no room for gradual measure, and there's no way to say it. Long lived freedom. Javier Malay spoke there through an interpreter and also highlighted Argentina's critical economic condition in that address to supporters. Markets in Argentina are close today for public holiday. Well Nathan, the world mourning the loss of former First Lady Rosalind Carter, and Bloomberg's Ed Baxter has more on the passing of the wife of former President Jimmy Carter. Rosalind Carter has been a tireless humanitarian both during the administration and then after, also a mental health advocate of the First Order. Two years ago, she was asked what makes a happy marriage. She says, many different things, but trying to make each other happy every day and do things together. We're always looking to do things for fine things we can do together. She has been at hospice care. At Baxter Bloomberg Radio, All right, Ed, thank you, Let's get you caught up on some corporate news this morning. We're watching shares of bay Or. They are plunging more than twenty percent. The German pharma and agriculture company stop the main study of its top experimental medicine due to a lack of efficacy. Beyer also lost a key US trial against its we'd killer roundup. And Nathan chares at Julius Bear. They are down about ten and a half percent. The Zurich based bank warning it's full of your profit will probably decline. The firm says provisions for bad loans. Jumped futures on Wall Street are higher. SMP futures up a tenth of a percent, as our down futures. Nasdaq futures up two tenths of one percent. Treasury yield right now four point four to four percent. This is Bloomberg, all right, Nathan, Thanks, It's time now for a look at some of the other stories making news around the world. For that, we're joined by Bloomberg's Amy Morris. See me, Good morning, Good morning, Karen. Former President Donald Trump and Texas Governor Greg Abbott served Thanksgiving meals yesterday and an airport hangar near the southern border to nearly two hundred border officials who will be stationed on the border over Thanksgiving. Afterwards, the governor endorsed Trump's twenty twenty four bid for the White House. I'm here today to officially proclaim my endorsement for Donald J. Trump to be President of the United States of America again. Abbot praising Trump for his border policies and battle to New York Representative George Santos face is another resolution to expel him from the House after the Thanksgiving holiday, Ethics Committee member and fellow New York Republican Andrew Garbarino tells ABC News he was shocked by what the investigation uncovered. He took every opportunity of available to him as a candidate to really gain the system offer his personal benefit. I wish I knew it was gonna be bad. I didn't think it was going to be this bad. The House Ethics Committee released its report into what investigators described as quote a complex web of unlawful activity involving Representative Santo's campaign, personal and business finances. The major Los Angeles roadway damaged by arson more than a week ago, reopened way ahead of schedule yesterday evening. California Governor Gavin Newsom says the iten will be fully operational for this morning's commute, but the work continues when well we see those permanent fixes secured. That will be over the course of many weeks, maybe a few months, but that won't significantly impact the commute or impact the five lanes that are now open in both directions. A Lease are searching for a suspect in that fire. They're asking for the public's help. Airports across the country are bracing for record Thanksgiving travel this week. TSA expecting to screen thirty million passengers over the holiday. Thomas grab is in Detroit. He's flying to New Orleans, but he's not expecting big crowds at the airport while he's there. I'm not expecting delays because I'm leaving on Thanksgiving Day, so a lot of people try to leave before. Sunday after Thanksgiving is projected to be the busiest day, with an estimated two point nine million passengers. Take into the skies. Global news twenty four hours a day and whenever you want it with Bloomberg News. Now. I'm Amy Morrison. This is Bloomberg Karen. All right, Amy, thank you well. We do bring you news throughout the day right here on Bloomberg Radio. But now, as Amy said, you can get the latest news on demand whenever you wanted. Subscribe to Bloomberg News Now to get the latest headlines at the click of a button. Get informed on your schedule. You can listen and subscribe to Bloomberg News Now on the Bloomberg Business app, Bloomberg dot Com plus apples, Spotify, and anywhere else you get your podcasts. Time now for the Bloomberg Sports Update. Here's John Stashauer, John Karen. No one could have expected this late in the NFL season for the Detroit Lions to have the second best record in the league. They are now eight and two. It's their best start to season since nineteen sixty two. They come back in Detroit. The Lions trailed the Bears by twelve points with three minutes left. Lions came back to win thirty one twenty sixtyes fight an off day for their quarterback Jared goff k through three interceptions. The Cowboys are seven to three, a point defferential of plus one twenty seven, tied with Baltimore for the best in the league. Cowboys won easily at Carolina thirty three to ten, forty nine ers, also seven to three. Brock perty twenty one of twenty five, three hundred and thirty five yards three touchdowns, including the seventy six yard to Brandon Ayu. Forty nine Ers beat the Bucks twenty seven to fourteen. The game last night won by Denver a Russell Wilson touchdown pass to Courtland Sutton with a minute ago. The Broncos fourth winning a row twenty one to twenty over the Vikings, who saw their five game winning streak come to an end. Good one tonight. It's the eight and one Eagles and the seven and two Chiefs. It's in Kansas City. It's a Super Bowl rematch. Syracuse has fired it's football coach. Dino Babers. Had the job for eight years, went forty one and fifty five. So add Syracuse to the list of schools we'll be looking for a coach for next year. Aaron Nola has already pitched nine seasons for the Phillies and he is stained put. He was a free agent but re upped with the phil seven years, one hundred and seventy two million. The f one raised in Las Vegas won by Max vers Stapp, and he's already won the season championship. John stash Awer Bloomberg Sports. Karen all Right, John Stashauer, thank you well. Coming up on Bloomberg Daybreak. We are going to be speaking with our own Creedy Gupta. We'll be discussing that changes at open Ai and of course Sam Altman going over to Microsoft again. That's coming up with Crety Gupta, and then we'll get the latest on the war in the Middle East. We'll be joined by Israeli government spokesman Alon Levy ahead of those conversations, though, futures on the rise, with SNP futures up a tenth of ve percent, up about six points this morning. And this is Bloomberg from coast to coast, from New York to San Francisco, Boston to Washington, DC, nationwide on Syrias Exam, the Bloomberg Business app, and Bloomberg dot Com. This is Bloomberg Daybreak. Good morning. I'm Nathan Hager on the end of what could be the end of a head spinning few days. Just keeping on top of what's been happening at OpenAI. It started with the sudden announcement on Friday that CEO Sam Altman was being ousted, then a tug of war between open AI's board and its biggest investors to try to get Altman back. Now the word this morning that Sam Altman and OpenAI founder Greg Brockman have landed at Microsoft, one of those biggest open Ai investors, to run Microsoft's in house AI team. Let's get more on all this now we're joined by Bloomberg's Critty Gupta. Did I sum it up well enough? There? Critty? You did? And yet there's still so much more to pack. I mean, this saga is so fascinating. Nathan. You mentioned Microsoft and Opening I clearly have a close relationship. Let's put some numbers on it. Microsoft has a forty nine percent stake in open Ai. But now I guess the question is, what do you do with that steak? If Sam Altmant and I believe it's been reported that half of the company's employees have followed him, are now going to be absorbed into Microsoft itself. But Nathan, I think we shop at the market moves here MSFT, your ticker hired by two point six percent off that news. Macro read through as well if you don't care about Microsoft specifically, Nasdaq futures popped on the news when they broke at about eight am London time, So again something to watch very closely, but also read through into alphabet Google shares goog down about one percent. Because now we are in direct competition with Alphabet's offering of their own AI platform, Deep Mind. So you are starting to see this become a true kind of competitive take between Microsoft and Alphabet when it comes to the AI, even more of an arms race potentially when it comes to artificial intelligence. And what does it say now when you have the leadership of open ai now in charge of Microsoft's in house team, and at least at the moment, Microsoft is saying they still want to have that relationship with open Ai. I mean can they? I mean, in theory they can because of that forty nine percent stake that exists. But I guess the question now really goes to words more and this is not my area of expertise and manly intellectual property and where the founding of it is. If you look at the makeup of the board of open Ai, the board that ousted Sam Altman, by the way, it's made up of basically the brains behind chat GPT, you're chief scientist for example, that Sam Altman was notably at odds with even Mira Marati, she was the chief technical officer over at open Ai before she became interim CEO. She's been advocating for Sam to actually come back to the board, but other members of the board include experts in tech who were actually able to help create it. There is a thought out there that perhaps Microsoft would want to kind of not only create their own AI team, but also have that exposure to whatever it is open Ai takes on next, especially under their new leadership of the former Twitch CEO Emmett Shecher. All right, Bloomberg's Critti Gupta will be checking back with you as we continue to monitor developments with Sam Altman, now former CEO of open Ai, landing at Microsoft to lead their artificial intelligence team. Now, we want to turn to the Middle East, where Israel and Hamas are said to be closer than ever to reaching a deal to free hostages taken in the October seventh attack that's set off the war in Gaza. That would be an exchange we're told for a multi day pause in the fighting for more. We're joined now by Israeli government spokesman Alon Levy. It's good to have you back on with us here on Bloomberg. Alon, can you give us any further clarity on where things stand on these hostage talks? Israeli society is, of course sick with worry for the fate of our two hundred and forty hostages, including thirty children. I really do mean sick with worry. People aren't sleeping properly. We're doing everything we can to bring them home. You'll understand that I can't comment on sensitive negotiations that are ongoing because human lives hang in the balance. We hope to bring these people home, but the less we say the better. At this point, are you hoping to get all the hostages back? How would it work in terms of the number of hostages that could be returned, and what would that mean for the progress of the war. We have two goals in this war in response to the October seventh massacre. The first is to totally destroy Hamas's governing and terrorist infrastructure inside the Gaza strips so it can never pose a threat to our people again. And the second is to bring all of our hostages home. That is the goal of this war. We hope that they will be brought safe and sound. Unfortunately it's been too late for some of them. Corporal Noah Marciano, age nineteen, was a female soldier. Yesterday we revealed that she was executed by Hamas on the grounds of the Shifa Hospital. We're doing everything we can to get the rest of the hostages out, including the thirty children, including the ten toddlers under the age of five. We're sick with worry for them. We're demanding their immediate and unconditional release, and we're calling on the whole world to put all possible pressure on Hamas and its supporters. There is no excuse for abducting babies from their beds and holding them in communicado for forty five days in a dark tunnel somewhere. To your point about Hamas reportedly using that hospital or Shifa Hospital as an execution point four hostages, that raises the question once again about whether Hamas used that hospital itself as a command and control center. I know the Israeli military has a released video that shows tunnel shafts near that facility. Does that prove that Hamas used that facility as a military post? All the people who've spent the last few days pretending that the Hamas terror tunnels were the next Saddam WMD's look very silly now that the evidence has come to light. Last night, the IDF released footage of a tunnel that stretches. The shaft stretches ten meters underground on the grounds of the Shifa Hospital. It then extends for fifty five meters until you reach a blast door with a gun hole in it. Now, I don't know whether you've ever seen a blast door with a gun hole in an underground tunnel in hospitals near where you are. We certainly don't have them here in Israel. And that's in addition to the evidence that Hamas used the Sheifa Hospital on October seventh in order to hold hostages. Yesterday, we released CCTV footage from inside the hospital showing two hostages, anpoorly and a Thai citizen by the way, being manhandled into the hospital. One of them doesn't appear to be wounded at all, and he's being dragged in by terrorists with a meat kleaver and with guns. The evidence is there for all to see. Unfortunately, the World Health Organization, none of the other UN agencies that have for many years been covering up for Hamas, have found the moral courage to condemn Hamas's use of hospitals as human shields. And we're demanding full accountability from these agencies that most probably knew and said nothing and still continue to say nothing. Obviously, we in Israel are suffering from this deep systemic rot in these international institutions, but they're failing the global community as well when something like terrorists using hospitals as a command center is something that they cannot go on the record and condemn. And to that point, Alon, there has been the concern raised as well as you alluded to, from the World Health Organization, the United Nations, and now the United States about the risk of civilians, non combatants, being casualties. Now, with the fighting moving into hospitals and into schools as well, how can you minimize the risk of further civilian casualties in this conflict. We are targeting Hamas everything we can to get civilians out of harm's way. Unfortunately, on October seventh, Hamas declared war on us with the brutal October seventh massacre, and it chose to fight that war from within densely populated areas. You know, Hamas's whole strategy is based on human shields. It sounds evil, it sounds cynical, and that's because it is. Hamas has spent sixteen years embedding itself under civilian areas so that it can hide behind women and children. And as our soldiers have gone through the Gaza Strip, we have uncovered tunnel shafts underneath a child's bed. We found missiles in the compartment under a girl's mattress. We found rocket launchers with the cables leading into clinics and mosques. And we've spent the last month urging civilians in northern Gaza to get out of the way because the fighting is going to get dangerous. Because Hamas is trying to put them in harm's way. We're trying to get them out of harm's way. That's why we've been securing humanitarian corridors for people to leave. Our own soldiers have been shot at by Hamas terrorists with RPGs as we try to secure your safe passage for Palestinians to leave. And I have to say it's tragic that Israel has been urging an evacuation since October thirteenth because the fighting is going to get dangerous, and UN agencies resisted and said that couldn't happen. And now the World Health Organization has finally come around to Israel's way of thinking that that hospital has to be evacuated to keep people safe. It took thirty eight days, and we hold the World Health Organization complicit with Hamas's human shield strategy and with any loss of life that has taken place in that time because of its gross negligence, because it dragged its feet and refused to facilitate an evacuation before the ground offensive, and is now demanding that Israel complete that evacuation under fire, something we will of course continue to do because we don't want to see civilians heard we want to go after Hamas. In the last couple of days, Alon, we have heard that this war is moving into a new phase now with the fighting going on into hospitals. Can you explain more what the new phase of this war means. Is the fighting going to move further into southern Gaza. Israel is now operating deep inside Gaza City. We're striking at Hamas's control and command centers, and the Israeli Army Chief of Staff said just at the end of last week, we're approaching the end of our campaign in northern Gaza to root out Hamas infrastructure and will turn to the rest of the Gaza Strip. Our response to the October seventh massacre. To that horrific terror attack when twelve hundred people were butchered, massacred, tortured, mutilated, burned, alive, raped in the most brutal way imaginable, is to eliminate the terror organization that did that and is openly promising in interview after interview to do another October seventh, and another October seventh, and as many as it takes until they murder every man, woman, child in our country. This war must end with the total eradication of Hamas. And we know that we stand shoulder to shoulder with the Free Nations, with President by And in the United States, who wrote in the Washington Post yesterday, this war must end with the total destruction of Hamas. This war cannot end with Hamas free to reoffend, because if this war ends with Hammas still in power, it will perpetrate more atrocities against our people. It's a genocidal terror organization that openly says it wants to murder every person in this country, destroy the state of Israel, and we will not let it. This was the straw that broke a very strong camel's back, and this war will end with the end of Hammas. Thank you for joining us. Alon, I hope we can reach back out to you in the days to come. That's Alon Levy with us this morning, spokesman for the Israeli government. This is Bloomberg Daybreak Today, your morning brief on the story's making news from Wall Street to Washington and beyond. Look for us on your podcast feed at six am Eastern each morning, on Apple, Spotify, and anywhere else you get your podcasts. You can also listen live each morning starting at five am Wall Street time on Bloomberg eleven three to zero in New York, Bloomberg ninety nine one in Washington, Bloomberg one oh sixty one in Boston, and Bloomberg ninety sixty in San Francisco. Our flagship New York station is also available on your Amazon Alexa devices. Just say Alexa play Bloomberg eleven thirty plus. Listen coast to coast on the Bloomberg Business app, SERIUSXM, the iHeartRadio app, and on Bloomberg dot Com. I'm Nathan Hager and I'm Karen Moscow. Join us again tomorrow morning for all the news you need to start your day right here on Bloomberg daybreak See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.