Both Sam Altman and Greg Brockman, OpenAI's CEO and president, sat down together for a rare interview. Someone paid $100,000 to release the podcast to the public.
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A CEO spent $100,000 to make an interview with OpenAI executives free to the public.
Sam Altman and Greg Brockman appeared on Ashlee Vance's podcast.
The interview was behind a paywall, and Vance said he would unlock it for a fee.
He put his money where their mouths were.
A manufacturing entrepreneur paid $100,000 to unlock a paywalled interview with OpenAI's top executives.
The interview, featuring CEO Sam Altman and President Greg Brockman, was initially published behind a paywall by journalist Ashlee Vance as part of his "Core Memory" podcast. After some listeners complained on X that it wasn't free, Vance said he would consider making it public if someone forked over about $100,000.
Jim Belosic, the CEO of Nevada-based laser manufacturing company SendCutSend, reached out.
"He saw the tweet that I put up and reached out," Vance told Business Insider. The "real, American cash" payment came together quickly, he said, describing the interaction as "the magic of Twitter or X."
Well, you guys all wanted to know who paid the $100k to unlock this pod.
Am very pleased to reveal it was @jimbelosic and @sendcutsend, who, in addition to unlocking this for everyone, have come on as new podcast sponsors as well. We plan to do some special things for you all.… https://t.co/FCaqBvvR5G
Vance said the funding was not pre-arranged and that he would have been cautious about accepting money from companies closely tied to OpenAI or its competitors.
The money will help "run the business" behind the "Core Memory" podcast and YouTube channel. SendCutSend is now a sponsor, Vance said, and Belosic is scheduled as an upcoming guest.
OpenAI and Belosic did not respond to requests for comment.
Vance said one of his biggest takeaways from the interview was the dynamic between Altman and Brockman, whom he described as having gone through "extraordinary ups and downs" together. He also pointed to Brockman's role at the company, saying he appears to be increasingly involved in shaping OpenAI's strategy.
"They are two people who've been through these extraordinary ups and downs," he told Business Insider. "I think people are kind of underestimating how much Greg has really come back to set OpenAI's strategy."
There's a new office rivalry brewing around who can rack up the most AI tokens.
JPMorgan, Disney, and others are tracking AI usage and ranking their employees on leaderboards.
We want to hear about your AI leaderboards and whether you're a "tokenmaxxer."
White-collar workers are jostling to climb rankings on AI leaderboards in a new kind of workplace competition known as "tokenmaxxing."
The trend is separating AI power users and laggards at large companies, including JPMorgan, Disney, and Meta.
At JPMorgan, dashboards categorize employees as "non," "light," or "heavy" users, Business Insider reported. A Disney "AI Adoption Dashboard" shows one employee invoking Claude 460,000 times in nine days — likely with the help of automated agents, BI found. At Meta, engineers can earn titles like "Token Legend" for their usage of tokens, a measurement of data used by AI models, The Information reported.
We want to understand how this is changing office dynamics. Tell us: Does your company track your AI usage? Do you think AI leaderboards brew healthy competition — or reward volume over value? Are you envious of the AI legends around your office? Or skeptical of what they're doing with all those tokens?
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Elad Gil is urging AI startups to consider selling soon due to the potential for changing market dynamics.
Gil is Silicon Valley's top solo VC, with billions at his disposal.
He sees parallels between the AI boom and the 1995-2001 internet boom.
Elad Gil, Silicon Valley's top solo venture capitalist, has a stark message for AI founders: sell your company soon, while conditions are still favorable.
"Founders running successful AI companies should all take a cold, hard look at exiting in the next 12-18 months, which may be a value-maximizing moment for outcomes," Gil wrote in a blog post this week.
Gil's perspective carries weight. He's raised more than $2 billion for a personal war chest to invest in AI startups. Gil, a serial founder who sold a startup to Twitter (now X), has backed several notable players in the space, such as Harvey, Mistral, Pika, and Perplexity. He was also an early investor in Anduril, Airbnb, and Stripe.
Investors have raised the alarm of an AI bubble since last year. But Gil's warning reflects both optimism about AI's growth and caution about how quickly the tech landscape can change.
Gil's reasoning draws on history. During the internet boom of 1995 to 2001, roughly 2,000 companies went public, but only a dozen or two dozen survived long-term. He thinks a similar pattern could emerge with today's AI boom.
Right now, demand for AI is surging. Many startups are seeing rising revenue and appear durable. But Gil warned this momentum may not last. As competition intensifies and the market matures, weaker or less differentiated companies could struggle to maintain their position.
"In the AI era, most companies, including those that are ramping revenue today, will see the market, competition, and adoption, turn on them," Gil wrote.
For founders, that creates a narrow window. Selling or merging while valuations remain high could maximize returns before conditions shift.
"While the tide is rising, many companies will seem to be unstoppable and durable — whether they are or not in the long run remains to be seen," he warned.
That said, he does not believe all AI startups face the same fate. A small group, such as major model developers like OpenAI and Anthropic, are likely to become foundational players.
"A handful of companies should absolutely not exit (eg. OpenAI, Anthropic) but many should if they can while everything is on the upswing," Gil wrote.
Tim Cook's China strategy has powered the company's rise and now shapes its biggest risks.
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Tim Cook left his mark on the tech world, but one of the most important parts of his legacy lies in China.
Cook turned China into the backbone of Apple's global business.
Here's how Cook made China central to Apple's growth, turning risks into rewards.
One of Tim Cook's defining legacies is clear: He made China the backbone of Apple's global business.
Apple announced on Monday that John Ternus, its senior vice president of hardware engineering and long seen as Cook's likely successor, will take over as chief executive. Cook will remain as executive chairman.
Cook's bet on China as the engine of Apple's rise helped shape one of the world's most valuable companies. It also bound Apple's fortunes to a market that is as much a source of risk as it is of growth.
Here's how Cook made China core to Apple.
Cook scaled China into Apple's factory floor
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When Cook joined Apple in 1998, the company was clawing its way back from the brink. In 1997, cofounder Steve Jobs said Apple was about 90 days from bankruptcy.
Cook was brought in to fix operations, and he made a radical call: shifting production to China. A network of manufacturers in that country was not only cheaper, but faster and easier to scale.
A key moment of this shift came when Cook met Terry Gou around 2000. Gou's company, Foxconn, would go on to become Apple's key manufacturing partner — assembling early iPods after their 2001 debut and later playing a crucial role in producing the iPhone when it launched in 2007.
At that time, China was also pushing to move up the value chain, encouraging factories to produce more advanced electronics instead of low-cost goods like toys and garments.
The decision to manufacture in China proved to be a payoff. By the time the iPhone era took off, Apple could launch products globally at a scale and speed competitors struggled to match.
He expanded Apple's business inside China
credit should read CFOTO/Future Publishing via Getty Images
Cook has been credited with making China an important consumer market for Apple.
In 2001, Apple officially entered China with a Shanghai-based trading company. By the early 2010s, it was rapidly expanding its retail footprint, opening stores in major cities.
One of the biggest breakthroughs came in 2013, when Apple struck a deal with China Mobile, then the world's largest carrier by subscribers. The partnership gave the iPhone access to hundreds of millions of potential customers and marked a turning point for Apple's presence in the country.
"We see this as bringing the world's best smartphone to the very largest and now the fastest network in China," Cook said in an interview with CNBC in 2014.
Cook also broadened Apple's reach beyond major cities through carrier partnerships and reseller networks, helping it tap a wider customer base as local rivals gained ground.
The company's China business has also grown over the past decade, from about $59 billion, or about 25% of revenue in 2015, to about $64 billion in 2025, cementing it as one of the company's biggest markets.
Apple topped China's smartphone market last year, holding about 22% share.
Cook managed a delicate balance between the US and China
Apple CEO Tim Cook and other tech executives visited Tokyo this month with President Donald J. Trump to promote Japanese investment in the US.
Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
For Apple to succeed in China, Cook had to walk a political tightrope between Washington and Beijing.
In the US, Cook lobbied officials to emphasize the potential harm tariffs would cause to American consumers and businesses, framing Apple's success as integral to US economic interests.
In 2019, he engaged President Donald Trump on the impact of tariffs on Chinese imports and competition from the South Korean company Samsung Electronics. Trump later said Cook had made a "good case" that tariffs would put Apple at a disadvantage against competitors.
US trade regulators then approved 10 out of 15 tariff exemption requests, easing pressure on Apple's China-based supply chain. In 2025, Apple's smartphones and other electronics were also spared from tariffs.
At the same time, Cook worked to maintain strong ties in China, even as US-China tensions escalated during the 2018 trade war.
He regularly met Chinese regulators and senior officials, and attended high-level forums such as the China Development Forum to reinforce Apple's position in the country.
He invested heavily in China's ecosystem
Ted S. Warren-Pool/Getty Images
Cook didn't just rely on China to build Apple's products — he invested in the ecosystem to make that possible.
In 2016, Apple invested $1 billion in Didi Chuxing, then the country's dominant ride-hailing platform.
Cook said the deal would help the company better understand China, its second-biggest market. The firm said Apple's investment was the largest ever investment in its history.
"We'll learn a lot about the business and the Chinese market beyond what we currently know," Cook said in 2016.
Over the years, Apple has poured significant resources into China. In 2021, Tim Cook signed an agreement with Chinese officials worth about $275 billion, aimed at easing regulatory pressure on the company's operations.
The deal included commitments to invest in retail expansion, research and development centers, and renewable energy projects, according to a report by The Information.
In 2025, Cook told China's industry minister that Apple would keep investing in the country. Cook also unveiled plans for a $101 million new energy fund during a visit to China in March 2025.
Carrie Charles is the CEO of Broadstaff, a recruiting and staffing agency.
Carrie Charles
Carrie Charles, CEO of Broadstaff, highlights data centers as a growth area for tech workers.
Data center technician jobs are increasing, offering hands-on work with evolving technology.
Demand for skilled electricians in data centers could lead to high salaries and large opportunities.
A talent CEO says all the recently laid-off tech workers wading through corporate America's sluggish job market should look to one growing area: data centers.
Carrie Charles is the CEO and cofounder of Broadstaff, a staffing and recruiting firm that works with companies like Oracle and Verizon. She says that with Big Tech's AI infrastructure buildout underway across the country, Broadstaff's business is booming.
Aside from all the construction workers needed to build data centers, Charles says she constantly fields staffing inquiries for skilled electricians and technicians to install and maintain the physical hardware inside the facilities.
"Our phone has never rang so much in our 10 years as a staffing company," Charles said. "The space is on fire right now — it's wild."
Charles sees a disconnect between the demand for data center talent and the thousands of laid-off desk workers struggling to find a new 9-to-5 office job.
Data center job listings increased by 64% between 2023 and 2025, Deloitte found. Industry leaders also say job openings outpace recruitment. A survey from industry organization Uptime Institute found that 54% of data center executives reported talent acquisition as their main hurdle.
"Young people — people in their 40s — getting laid off is all over the media, and it's this massive shock," Charles said. "But there's a massive opportunity over here."
Data centers offer a limited number of permanent jobs per facility. Still, Charles said the market is expanding as more large data centers pop up across the country.
Employment at data centers in the US increased by over 60% from 2016 to 2023, according to the US Census Bureau.
Working as a data center technician could be a good fit for someone who likes being hands-on but isn't ready to fully let go of the corporate world.
"It's almost like a white-collar trade job," Charles said. "It's a technical role, but you're not sitting all day long."
Data center technician jobs are growing
A data center technician does on-site tech support and hardware maintenance. The job can be physically demanding, Charles said, and sometimes it involves moving between sites if you work for a company with multiple data centers in a region.
As data center technology evolves rapidly, more companies are launching their own training programs for entry-level workers.
For instance, the Uptime Institute offers a data center certification program that takes five days to complete.
"It all comes down to positioning," Charles said. "You're bringing skills like operations, troubleshooting, reliability, or even customer experience."
Advanced technicians can make $80,000 to $100,000
Technicians are "not going to immediately start making six figures," and entry-level data center technicians can make between $45,000 and $65,000 a year, Charles said.
While having a background in IT or completing certification programs can be helpful in landing a job, employers mostly look for a "can-do" and "no task too small" mindset in entry-level employees, she added.
"You might be working from 7:00 p.m to 7:00 a.m.," Charles said. "They want to make sure you're the kind of person who will do the job and stay in the role."
Technicians can move up relatively quickly to more advanced technician or facilities management roles.
"With a few basic certifications and a willingness to work shifts, you can ramp quickly," Charles said. "In most cases, you are back to that $80,000 to $100,000 a year range within 18 to 24 months."
Specialized electricians can make $200,000 to $300,000
If you have a higher risk tolerance, Charles recommends becoming a licensed electrician and seeking out apprenticeships with data center specialists. For instance, Broadstaff works with Wachter, a national electrical contractor that works with large data centers and offers apprenticeship programs.
Although becoming a licensed electrician can require four to five years of trade school and multiple apprenticeships, it's a path that can yield a larger payout in the long run.
Senior electricians can easily make over six figures, Charles said, and those with specialized knowledge of data center technology, such as liquid cooling and fiber cabling, can make between $200,000 and $300,000 a year.
Electricians are expected to be in high demand over the next decade. The US Bureau of Labor Statistics projects 81,000 job openings for electricians annually through 2034. BLS says the job outlook for electricians is growing "much faster" than most other occupations.
Gen Z is already on board with blue-collar trade work. Charles says it's time for everyone else to catch up and start viewing blue-collar jobs as viable careers.
Going to law school in your 30s or 40s is a similar commitment to becoming certified as an electrician, Charles said. Both require years of training from the ground up and come with short-term financial setbacks — and high long-term salary potential.
"It's hard, and there's an element of risk," Charles said. "But the opportunities are massive. You have to take a step back to take a step forward."
China's humanoid robot half-marathon produced a record-breaking run.
Still, falls and mishaps during the race drew attention and laughs.
A robot was carried off on a stretcher, while another had engineers in pursuit.
China once again staged a half-marathon for humanoid robots. It delivered a record — and plenty of chaos.
A robot from Chinese smartphone and gadget maker Honor clocked 50 minutes and 26 seconds at the event in Beijing on Sunday, according to a WeChat post by the Beijing Economic-Technological Development Area.
That time beats the current human half-marathon world record set by Uganda's Jacob Kiplimo, who finished in 57 minutes and 20 seconds last month.
Honor's robot's performance is a leap forward from the inaugural race last year, when the fastest robot took 2 hours, 40 minutes, and 42 seconds to finish. Participation also surged from about 20 teams to more than 100 this year.
The race wasn't just about speed — it delivered plenty of comic moments. Clips circulating on social media captured the messier side of the half-marathon.
In a video posted on Instagram on Sunday, one robot stumbled at the starting line, crashing face-first and breaking apart on impact. Its limbs were scattered across the track.
Staff rushed in with a stretcher, gathering the pieces in a scene that resembled a first-aid effort.
"Helpppp why did they run over and put it on a stretcher im CRYING," one user wrote in a comment on the Instagram post.
Another Instagram video showed the Honor robot veering into a barricade late in the race. It recovered and kept going to the finish line, while engineers jogged behind, clutching control devices. It made for a good laugh.
"Dudes were really trying to keep up with that thing," a user commented on the post.
On X, compilations of robots falling and malfunctioning during the marathon went viral. In one video posted by @SilviusBerthold, robots were seen crashing into barricades, collapsing mid-run, and twitching on the track.
China has been racing to develop and deploy humanoid robots, even experimenting with integrating AI agents such as OpenClaw.
In a January earnings call, Tesla CEO Elon Musk said that the biggest rivals to Optimus would likely come from China.
Still, mishaps involving Chinese robots have continued to make headlines. In February, a humanoid robot from XPeng flopped face-first during a public showcase. XPeng CEO He Xiaopeng likened the moment to "children learning to walk."
In another incident earlier this year, a humanoid robot developed by Unitree kicked an engineer in the groin during a test.
