Israel, Musk reach ‘significant agreement’ on use of Starlink in Gaza

JERUSALEM, Nov 27: Elon Musk's announcement that Starlink, a satellite internet constellation operated by his aerospace company SpaceX, can be used by internationally-recognised aid groups in Gaza, has now been reversed.

This is due to the billionaire and the Israeli government arriving at a ‘principle understanding’ under which Starlink can now operate in Israel – including the Gaza Strip – only with the approval of Israel's Ministry of Communications.

Shlomo Karhi, the country's Minister of Communications, on Monday took to the Musk-owned social network X (formerly Twitter) to announce what he said was a ‘significant agreement.’

“As the State of Israel fights against Hamas-ISIS, this understanding is vital, as it is for everyone who desires a better world, free of evil and free of anti-Semitism, four our children's sake,” Karhi wrote on X.

The minister added: “During your (Musk's) time in Israel, I hope that you will be able to gain valuable insight, and that it will serve as a springboard for future endeavors, as well as enhance your relationship with the Jewish people and values we share with the entire world.”

The world's richest person is currently in Israel, meeting with the country's leadership at a time when a war is going on Hamas, the Islamist group that controls Gaza. On October 7, Hamas carried out attacks inside Israel, prompting retaliatory strikes by the Israel Defense Forces (IDF); the war has been on since then.

Musk's announcement on providing Starlink support to Gaza came after the IDF, in preparation to launch a major incursion into the Gaza Strip, launched an operation targeting internet and media infrastructure in the region. The primary objective of the IDF's much-criticised move, according to the military, was to disrupt communication among the Hamas operatives.

500 OpenAI Staff Threaten To Quit, Join Sam Altman Unless Board Resigns

NEW YORK, Nov 20: OpenAI's staff has threatened to quit the artificial intelligence startup and join former boss Sam Altman at Microsoft's new division unless the board resigns, according to a letter seen by a news agency.

Apart from Chief Technology Officer Mira Murati, Chief Data Scientist Ilya Sutskever, and Chief Operating Officer Brad Lightcap, about 500 members of OpenAI staff said they would resign, said a person familiar with the matter.

OpenAI did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

ChatGPT Creator OpenAI Sacks Sam Altman, Board 'Lost Confidence' In Him

WASHINGTON, Nov 18: OpenAI, the company that created ChatGPT a year ago, said Friday it had dismissed CEO Sam Altman as it no longer had confidence in his ability to lead the Microsoft-backed firm.

Altman, 38, became a tech world sensation with the release of ChatGPT, an artificial intelligence chatbot with unprecedented capabilities, churning out human-level content like poems or artwork in just seconds.

OpenAI's board said in a statement that Altman's departure "follows a deliberative review process," which concluded "he was not consistently candid in his communications with the board, hindering its ability to exercise its responsibilities."

"The board no longer has confidence in his ability to continue leading OpenAI," it added.

Altman's decision last year to release the app paid off in ways he never imagined, catapulting the Missouri-born Stanford dropout to household name stardom.

The launch of ChatGPT ignited an AI race, with contenders including tech giants Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Meta.

Microsoft has invested billions of dollars in OpenAI and has woven the company's technology into its offerings, including search engine Bing.

Altman has testified before US Congress about AI and spoken with heads of state about the technology, as pressure ramps up to regulate against risks such as AI's potential use in bioweapons, misinformation and other threats.

The statement said the board was "grateful for Sam's many contributions to the founding and growth of OpenAI. At the same time, we believe new leadership is necessary as we move forward."

Altman would be replaced on an interim basis by Mira Murati, the company's chief technology officer, the statement said.

OpenAI's board of directors consists of OpenAI chief scientist Ilya Sutskever, Quora CEO Adam D'Angelo, technology entrepreneur Tasha McCauley, and Georgetown Center for Security and Emerging Technology's Helen Toner.

Altman earlier this month led a major developer's conference for OpenAI, announcing a new set of products that were largely met positively in Silicon Valley.

The young CEO on Thursday said he understood some of the worries when it came to how people feel about AI and its disruptive powers.

"(I have) lots of empathy for why anyone would feel, however they feel, about this," he said of the platform that is credited with launching the revolution in generative artificial intelligence (AI).

Altman was speaking on the sidelines of the annual Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit in San Francisco where he was swarmed by fans after his appearance, many of whom wanted to take selfies with him.

SpaceX Launches Giant New Rocket, But Loses It Minutes Into Flight

BOCA CHICA, Nov 18: SpaceX's Starship, the most powerful rocket ever built, lifted off for a second test flight today, but was presumed to have failed minutes later.

SpaceX carried out the second test launch of Starship with the booster and the spaceship exploded after separation, reported a news agency.

The booster successfully separated from the ship, but blew up shortly after, while the ship continued on track.

The two-stage rocketship blasted off from the Elon Musk-owned company's Starbase launch site near Boca Chica in Texas, on a planned 90-minute flight into space.

But the contact was lost roughly 10 minutes after lift-off, said a company broadcaster.

"We have lost the data from the second stage... we think we may have lost the second stage," SpaceX's livestream host John Insprucker said.

"As you could see, the super heavy booster has just experienced a rapid unscheduled disassembly however, our ship is still underway," an announcer said.

The event was live-streamed on both SpaceX's website and on X, the social media platform owned by Elon Musk.

In a social media post, SpaceX said the core Starship stage's engines "fired for several minutes on its way to space."

"With a test like this, success comes from what we learn, and today's test will help us improve Starship's reliability as SpaceX seeks to make life multiplanetary," the company said.

SpaceX hailed today's rocket launch as incredibly successful by SpaceX engineers, despite the super heavy booster experiencing what is known as "a rapid unscheduled disassembly".

"Such an incredibly successful day," a SpaceX announcer said. "Even though we did have a… rapid unscheduled disassembly of both the super heavy booster and the ship."

SpaceX has insisted that explosions during the early stages of rocket development are welcome and help inform design choices faster than ground tests.

Bill Nelson, head of the NASA space agency said Saturday's attempt showed progress.

"Congrats to the teams who made progress on today's flight test," he said on X, formerly Twitter. "Spaceflight is a bold adventure demanding a can-do spirit and daring innovation. Today's test is an opportunity to learn -- then fly again."

"It was a fantastic partial success," said space scientist Laura Forczyk. "It surpassed my expectations."

The second launch was more successful than the company's first attempt in April, and any data gathered from today will be used to influence future modifications to the rocket, it said.

The objective was to get Starship off the ground in Texas and into space just shy of reaching orbit, then plunge through Earth's atmosphere for a splashdown off Hawaii's coast. Earlier, the launch was scheduled for Friday but was pushed back for a last-minute swap of flight-control hardware.

During its April 20 test flight, the spacecraft blew itself to bits less than four minutes into a planned 90-minute flight that flight went awry from the start. The first launch also caused massive damage to the company's launchpad at Starbase.

advertisements