Top stories today:

1. Sam Altman re-joins OpenAI’s board after investigation into sudden firing
2. TikTok crackdown marches onwards as former Activision CEO expresses interest
3. Bitcoin crosses $71K, making new all-time highs
4. Grok AI to be open-sourced this week, says Elon
5. X will launch YouTube competitor for smart TVs

• Law firm report mostly absolves Altman: WilmerHale concluded Altman’s ouster was a consequence of relationship breakdowns not “concerns regarding product safety or security, the pace of development, OpenAI’s finances or its statement to investors, customers, or business partners.”

• The report was not released to the public.

• Bobby Kotick, former Activision CEO, shared the idea of buying TikTok with potential partners including OpenAI CEO Sam Altman.

• Trump comes out opposing Biden's TikTok ban: behind the scenes.

• Buyer interest follows a unanimous vote for a forced divesture in the House committee.

• The proposed bill must first pass in the House and Senate before ByteDance must divest itself of TikTok in 165 days or be banned in the U.S.

4. Bitcoin crosses $71K, making new all-time highs

• Previous ATH was $69K, reached in Nov. 2021.

5. Grok AI to be open-sourced this week, says Elon, calling OpenAI “a lie”

Read more: Techcrunch.

• Reinstatement follows a ban from Apple in Europe’s app store of Epic Games developer account.

• Pressure from E.U. will now force Apple to accept Epic Games internal app store.

• Epic Games CEO Tim Sweeney called it the “first major victory”.

8. CCC bonds +16% YTD, as highest quality bonds underperform

10. Other headlines

AI

• NVIDIA sued by 3 authors over AI copyright.

• Academia being priced out of AI researchers due to AI hype.

• Marilyn Monroe AI avatar breaks ground in celebrity avatars.

• Florida teens arrested for Deepfake of classmate.

• American Samoan investor who beat Biden leveraged AI tools.

Tech

• Reddit seeking to raise $748M in IPO, exp. valuation $6.5B.

• Reddit Pro: new tools for business growth as IPO approaches.

• Klarna’s co-founder buying up shares via SPVs, direct ownership at 4%.

• eToro considers New York for IPO.

• Salesforce co-founder focuses on Slack as software company turns 25.

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Tech & law

• Elon Musk accused by NYT of tax issues in his foundation.

• CXMT may get blacklisted by U.S. to curb China’s chip advance.

• TSMC to win more than $5B in grants for U.S. chip fab.

• Microsoft: Russian hackers stole source code after spying on execs.

Biotech

• Psychiatric disorder blood test being developed by Johns Hopkins.

• Top scientists sign effort to prevent AI bioweapons.

• FDA delays action on closely watched Alzheimer’s drug.

• ALS drug Relyvrio fails clinical trial.

• Artificial DNA developed by top scientists.

Business

• Saudi Aramco made $121B in net profits in 2023, from $161 in 2022.

• Alaska Airlines cooperating with DOJ in Boeing 737 MAX probe.

• Oppenheimer wins 7 Oscars, including Best Picture.

Crypto

• Coinbase stock price regains former December 2021 value.

• Wyoming governor signs into law new DAO bill.

• Uniswap: making it easier to buy, sell and trade tokens on Ethereum.*

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U.S. politics

• Biden's budget includes 25% tax on unrealized income of wealthiest.

• Biden campaign raised $10M in 24 hours after SOTU address.

• Kellyanne Conway advocating for TikTok in D.C.

• Alien spacecraft reverse engineering once weighed by U.S.: report.

World

• Rafah offensive not imminent: Israeli officials.

• Netanyahu rebuffs Biden: “he's wrong,” most Israelis back policies.

  • 13K+ “terrorists” killed.

• Hamas leaders insist on Israeli withdrawal for hostage release.

• Erdogan ‘firmly’ backs Hamas and likens Netanyahu to Hitler.

• Ukraine could deploy “few” F-16s as soon as Jul.

• Hong Kong proposes life sentence for treason.

• U.S. prepared for Russian nuclear strike in Ukraine in late 2022: officials.

• U.S. military evacuates staff from Haiti, brings security to embassy.

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