The latest drama to unfold in the closely watched artificial intelligence (AI) space has apparently concluded. In what can be seen as a collective sigh of relief, numerous companies involved in the technology saw price bumps in their stocks Wednesday.
Among these was C3.ai (AI 3.02%), which rose for the second day in a row. Its share price crept up by 1%, a rate high enough to beat the S&P 500 index's 0.4% gain.
Altman fired, then hired, and hired again
That drama, as most people even vaguely aware of the AI industry know by now, was the dismissal and very quick rehiring of OpenAI CEO Sam Altman. Last Friday he was effectively fired by the company's board of directors and replaced in quick succession by two individuals. On Monday, Microsoft (MSFT 1.82%) hired him to lead a new AI unit at the big company, and the following day he was reinstated as OpenAI CEO.
So Altman's journey ended up being a circular one, leading to questions as to whether all the smoke and noise really achieved much of anything (save for a reconstituted OpenAI board with two new members).
We're sure to find out more about what occurred behind the scenes in this rather odd leadership tussle. For now it seems like it'll be business as usual at OpenAI.
Microsoft versus the minnows
For a minute it appeared the towering Microsoft, with its near-bottomless resources, was suddenly positioned to become an AI powerhouse, too; this is apparently not the case (although the tech giant has invested heavily in OpenAI). After the company announced Altman's hiring, some market players surely worried that smaller AI fish like C3.ai would be hard-pressed to compete against the giant.
