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Happy Tuesday!
Time for three fun facts, in case anyone is doing trivia tonight and these come in handy:
You can't hum if you hold your nose.
Amy Poehler was only seven years older than Rachel McAdams when she took on the role of "cool mom" in Mean Girls.
There’s only one letter that doesn’t appear in any American state name. Which one? I’ll put it in the tidbit!
I've got 10 seconds
The quote
“This is one of those times we disagree with China.” — Prime Minister Anthony Albanese on a recent incident when Australian navy divers were subjected to “sonar pulses” from a Chinese ship.
The stat
2.06°C
How much warmer average global temperatures were on Friday compared to pre-industrial levels. The increase is considered above the critical climate change threshold.
Today in history
2013: The song ‘Happy’ by Pharrell Williams was released as part of the soundtrack album for the film Despicable Me. I hope you now enjoy having it stuck in your head for the rest of the day.
I've got 30 seconds
Some headlines from this morning:
The Federal Health Department is considering making gender-affirming procedures subsidised by Medicare to improve the quality of life of transgender people. An application to the Medical Services Advisory Committee suggests subsidising gender-affirming surgery procedures including facial and genital procedures, chest surgery, and voice surgery. The committee is an independent body that assesses and advises the Government on whether a new medical service should be publicly funded.
Over 3,000 fires have broken out in Brazil this month, destroying nearly 770,000 hectares of the largest tropical wetlands in the world. In the same period last year, there were fewer than 70 fires in the area. Endangered jaguars, and more than 150 other mammal species, are at risk from the destruction of habitat caused by the blazes.
I've got 1 minute
The CEO of Optus Kelly Bayer Rosmarin announced her resignation yesterday, effective immediately.
It follows a mass network outage earlier in the month.
"I have come to the decision that my resignation is in the best interest of Optus moving forward," she said.
At a Senate hearing on Friday, Rosmarin denied rumours she would be stepping down.
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I've got 2 minutes
OpenAI, the company behind ChatGPT, has fired its CEO and co-founder Sam Altman.
Altman led the U.S. company through its rollout of ChatGPT, which has become one of the most well-known artificial intelligence products in the world.
After four years as CEO, OpenAI’s six-member board voted to remove Altman from the role.
What is OpenAI?
Altman launched the start-up OpenAI with Tesla owner Elon Musk in 2015 and became CEO in 2019. The company’s stated mission was to "benefit humanity as a whole".
OpenAI is most known for launching the conversational bot ChatGPT, which can generate content like essays and poems from user prompts.
The technology has sparked global concerns about accuracy, security, and transparency.
Board decision
OpenAI's six-member board is responsible for governing the company’s decisions.
The board announced Altman was stepping down late last week. In a statement, it said members lost confidence in Altman because he was "not consistently candid" with them.
Until Altman was fired, the board was made up of three OpenAI executives (including Altman) and three outside directors.
OpenAI chair Greg Brockman was also removed from the board.
Brockman said he was excluded from the vote against Altman and notified of the board’s decision after the fact.
There are now four members on OpenAI's board, which has now appointed an interim (stand-in) CEO.
Reaction
A statement from the board of directors said OpenAI was "grateful" for Altman’s contributions to "the founding and growth" of the company. "At the same time, we believe new leadership is necessary as we move forward," it read.
A joint statement from Altman and Brockman said they were "shocked and saddened" by the decision.
"We too are still trying to figure out exactly what happened."
Investors
None of OpenAI's biggest investors have seats on the company’s board, meaning they had no say in the decision to remove Altman as CEO.
One of OpenAI's biggest funders, Microsoft, said the leadership changes won’t affect its relationship with the company.
Earlier this year, Microsoft reportedly invested $US10 billion ($AU15.3 billion) in OpenAI.
What next?
Last night, it was announced that Altman and Brockman will join Microsoft to lead a new advanced AI research team.
Give me some good news
Gases produced by landfill in the ACT will be used to power over 10,000 homes.
The new gas expansion project at the Canberra landfill facility will reduce carbon emissions by using methane from landfill to generate power.
Once it’s completed, the site should be able to generate 50,000 Megawatt hours of energy.
A message from our sponsor
When Jannik Sinner ate a carrot during a match in Austria a few years ago, he didn’t expect it to become the symbol of his cult following. Fast-forward to 2023, and this rising star of tennis has a group of diehard fans following him around the world, dressed as… carrots.
And his fans have plenty to celebrate - in just the last six months, Sinner has made his first Grand Slam semi-final at Wimbledon, won his first ATP Masters 1000 title in Canada, beat the world No.2 and No.3 in China and took out the Vienna Open. Now that’s a hot streak.
Sinner’s name is synonymous with the future of men’s tennis - and off the court, the 22-year-old has already used his platform to talk about mental health, and raise money for medical supplies in his homeland of Italy during the pandemic. Oh, and a fashion deal with Gucci.
At the Australian Open 2024, Sinner is not to be underestimated - we have a feeling the Carrots will be in the stands towards the pointy end of the tournament. We took a deep dive into the story of Jannik Sinner - the tennis player and the human - ahead of AO 2024.
A TDA tidbit
Australia is headed for the moon! But first, a name is needed.
The Australian Space Agency, partnering with NASA, will be sending the country’s first moon rover as early as 2026.
The space agency reached out to the public for suggestions to name the rover. From over 8,000 entries, the four finalist names are:
Coolamon
Kakirra
Mateship
Roo-ver.
Australian ingenuity at its finest, hey?
The rover is part of the Artemis mission, and will collect lunar soil which can be used to obtain oxygen samples.
Anyone can vote for their favourite rover name by 1 December. The winner will be named on 6 December.
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Answer: The letter ‘Q’ does not appear in any U.S. state name.
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