With Sam Altman’s return, a shift in AI from idealism to pragmatism

EVEN BY TECH’S fast-moving standards, the past week in the world of artificial intelligence (AI) was head-spinning. On November 17th the board of OpenAI booted out Sam Altman, the ChatGPT-maker’s boss. By November 20th Mr Altman had been offered refuge at Microsoft, the startup’s biggest backer. The same day nearly all of OpenAI’s 770 employees signed a letter threatening to quit unless the board members who dismissed Mr Altman reinstate him and resign. On November 21st Mr Altman was back in his old job. Heads have, then, spun back more or less to where they started. Or have they?