In 2015, a group of Silicon Valley heavy-hitters met for a dinner that would change tech history. They believed that the time had come to build a super-intelligent AI, and they founded a non-profit lab to try to do it. In part 1 of our series, Artificial: The OpenAI Story, we explore the company’s idealistic origins and speak with early employees about the struggle to make their AI dream a reality.

Further Reading:

- Elon Musk Tries to Direct AI—Again 

- The Contradictions of Sam Altman, AI Crusader 

Further Listening:

- The Company Behind ChatGPT 

- The Hidden Workforce That Helped Filter Violence and Abuse Out of ChatGPT  

- OpenAI’s Weekend of Absolute Chaos 

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Billionaire investor Charlie Munger died Tuesday, just weeks short of his 100th birthday. Munger was vice-chairman of Berkshire Hathaway, and he was best known for his close partnership with CEO Warren Buffett. As WSJ’s Jason Zweig explains, Munger often played Buffett’s sidekick, but his investing expertise made him a celebrity in his own right.

Further Reading:

- Charlie Munger’s Life Was About Way More Than Money 

- The Secrets to Charlie Munger’s Success 

- Charlie Munger, Warren Buffett’s Partner and ‘Abominable No-Man,’ Dies at 99 

Journal Swag:

- ‘The Journal’ Merch shop 

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Dubai, a city known for private jets, giant yachts and other symbols of carbon-heavy living, is an awkward location for a conference on climate change. The man organizing the COP28 summit also runs the country’s national oil company. WSJ’s Ed Ballard digs into the contradictions at the heart of this month’s climate summit and why they may not be that unusual. 

Further Reading:

- Welcome to COP28, the U.N. Climate Conference Hosted by an Oil Giant 

- What’s at Stake at COP28 in Dubai 

Further Listening:

- The Fight Over Climate Change's Price Tag 

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A Journal investigation reveals a years-long culture of sexual harassment and intimidation at the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation, a government agency that regulates banks. WSJ's Rebecca Ballhaus on the allegations and how some of the problems went all the way to the top.

Further Reading:

- Strip Clubs, Lewd Photos and a Boozy Hotel: The Toxic Atmosphere at Bank Regulator FDIC 

- FDIC Chair, Known for Temper, Ignored Bad Behavior in Workplace 

Further Listening:

- Can the Government Contain a Banking Crisis? 

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OpenAI was founded in 2015 as an idealistic nonprofit. Its goal was to build artificial general intelligence or AGI — an AI that could do most jobs better than a human could.

In the years that followed, OpenAI’s pursuit of AGI led them to develop the viral chatbot ChatGPT. The company became one of the top AI labs in the world.

But to get there, OpenAI’s leaders would compromise nearly every one of their founding ideals. Over four episodes, we explore how a little-known startup built one of the world’s most viral tech products … and nearly tore itself apart in the process.

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Shares of Estée Lauder, the beauty giant, have plunged about 50% this year. And the members of the Lauder family are at odds about what to do. WSJ's Emily Glazer reports on the company's business mistakes and its rumblings of succession.

Further Listening:

- The World’s Richest Person Is Planning for Succession 

Further Reading:

- The Estée Lauder Family Built a Beauty Empire. A Succession Rift Threatens It 

- Estée Lauder Stock Plunges After Another Profit Warning 

- Estée Lauder’s Big Bet on China Is Looking Not So Pretty 

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Changpeng Zhao built Binance into the world’s largest cryptocurrency exchange, and became one of the faces of crypto in the process. Last week, he appeared in federal court and pleaded guilty to violating U.S. anti-money-laundering laws and agreed to step down as CEO. WSJ’s Patricia Kowsmann explains what the deal means for Zhao, Binance, and the future of crypto itself. 

Further Listening:

- The Trial of Crypto’s Golden Boy 

- A Crypto Exchange Crackdown 

- The Rise of Binance - And The Effort to Reel It In 

Further Reading:

- Inside Binance’s Guilty Plea and the Biggest Fine in Crypto History 

- The World’s Biggest Crypto Firm Is Melting Down 

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We’re off today, but we still have a great episode for you. A texting scam that originated in China is on the rise in the United States. It’s more sophisticated than scams of the past, and it has already cost American victims more than $400 million. WSJ’s Robert McMillan explains how pig-butchering works, and one victim shares how it’s impacted her.

This episode originally published in November 2022.

Further Reading:

-A Text Scam Called ‘Pig Butchering’ Cost Her More Than $1.6 Million 

-Online Scams Cost Americans Billions. Here’s How to Avoid the Worst of Them. 

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Ocean Spray’s farmers are responsible for 65% of the world’s cranberries. It’s not a publicly traded company. It’s not a traditional private company, either. It’s a cooperative founded nearly a century ago and owned by roughly 700 families. WSJ’s Ben Cohen tells the story of how the cranberry got into the can, and how the company is planning for a future beyond your Thanksgiving table. 

Further Reading:

- These People Are Responsible for the Cranberry Sauce You Love to Hate 

Further Listening:

- Are Rotisserie Chickens 'Inflation-Proof'? 

- The Twinkie: From Bankruptcy to Billions 

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Cheap drones, once the domain of hobbyists, are now in high demand on battlefields. Following Hamas's attack on October 7, Israel has been flooding suppliers with requests for drones: it wants as many as possible, as soon as possible. WSJ’s Heather Somerville unpacks the benefits and perils of the use of off-the-shelf drones in modern warfare.

Further Reading:

-Israel Wants Inexpensive Drones. Chinese, American—It Doesn’t Matter. 

-How the Technological Revolution in Ukraine Is Reshaping Modern Warfare 

-U.S. Drone Startups See an Opening in Ukraine 

Further Listening:

-The Surprising Origins of Russia’s Drones 

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