TLDR — Tech loves drama, right?

Here’s a roundup of our favorite tech drama from last week:

• Pixel perfect?: MKBHD (the famous and recently more critical tech reviewer who warns people about overpriced gadgets) released a $12/month wallpaper app and people got quite mad about this.
• Domain drama: WordPress got into a spat with hosting service WP Engine. It’s all sorts of messy. Matt Mullenweg, founder of WordPress and Automattic, said WP Engine is infringing on the WordPress trademarks. WP Engine is doing some serious revenue ($245M in 2022 and projected to do $400M in 2024) so there is some speculation this is a prelude to an attempted acquisition by Automattic. 
• X-ile: Brazil’s Supreme Court said X (fka Twitter) will have to pay a $5M+ fine before being allowed to resume service in the country. Elon Musk and Judge Alexandre de Moraes have been mixing it up ever since Moraes ruled X failed to restrict hate speech.
• Diamondhands: Nader “Diamondhands” Al-Naji, the founder of BitClout, raised lots of money for his crypto startups. Then, shockingly, a dude named Diamondhands was accused, per Fortune, of “looting investors’ money to live large in Beverly Hills and make $1 million cash transfers to family members.” Top-tier VC a16z is a prosecution witness in the case.
• AI robocalls: The US FCC levied a $6M fine on a guy who used AI to copy Biden’s voice for use in robocalls to voters in early 2024. 
• FTX sentencing: FTX co-conspirator and Sam Bankman-Fried’s ex-lover Caroline Ellison was sentenced. She faced up to 110 years in jail, but due to her cooperation with the investigation, she got 2 years. She also was asked to forfeit $11B. Yes — you read that right.
• Super Micro scrutiny: AI server maker Super Micro Computer is being investigated by the Justice Department after a critical report by short-seller Hindenburg Research (great f’n name) cited allegations of accounting irregularities and transactions between Super Micro and companies run by the CEO's family.
• Objection overruled: The FTC came down on legal services startup DoNotPay, which claimed to offer a “robot lawyer,” and several other firms as part of a crackdown on deceptive AI claims and schemes. 
• Azure skirmish: Google filed an antitrust probe against Microsoft in the EU claiming its Azure platform engages in unfair practices.

And then of course, TLDR wouldn’t be complete without OpenAI drama. Honestly, this whole section could be about it.

So here’s a quick recap of the soap opera that is OpenAI.

• It’s raising money at a $150B valuation. Apple was in the round. Now, it’s not.
• Apple being out doesn’t much matter as CFO Sarah Friar sent a note to OpenAI investors saying the round was still oversubscribed.
• The company continues to grow like a weed — it hit $300M in monthly revenue in August and expects $3.7B in sales in 2024.
• Sam Altman visited TSMC about plans for 36 chip plants and the need for $7T. Some at TSMC took to calling him a “podcasting bro,” per the NYT.
• The company is converting from a non-profit to a for-profit company, and Bloomberg reports that Sam Altman may get a 7% stake (worth a cool $10.5B at the $150B valuation).
• In the last week, OpenAI’s chief research officer, Bob McGrew, and a research VP, Barret Zoph, left the company. The most notable exit was of CTO Mira Murati.

Now there is only 1 member of the founding team of OpenAI left.

And then there was one.