We’ve found that in tech, founders/the tech press, etc, in many cases, have a bad habit of stretching the truth, let’s call it, or at least of altering a narrative to suit their purposes. It’s top-down and the members of the tech cabal do it constantly – often with the willing assistance of the tech media, who let’s say tend to shy away from presenting the full picture.

Last week, “Microsoft and Apple (gave) up their OpenAI board seats,” MSN reported. “Microsoft reportedly told OpenAI that it’s confident in the direction the company is taking, so its seat on the board is no longer necessary.”

That’s the snapshot, which is often as far as many readers get, and let’s not forget that MSN, or Microsoft News, is a Microsoft property.

Meanwhile, ArsTechnica spelled it out, or at least came a lot closer, reporting “OpenAI board shake-up: Microsoft out, Apple backs away amid AI partnership scrutiny,” while Engadget reported that “Microsoft has withdrawn from OpenAI’s board of directors a couple of weeks after the European Commission revealed that it’s taking another look at the terms of their partnership, according to the Financial Times.”

Not surprising, considering that ousted and then reinstated CEO Sam Altman has not always been transparent, to put it mildly. Case in point: “OpenAI’s board learned about ChatGPT’s release on Twitter, ex-board member says,” Business Insider reported. “Helen Toner said the board “was not informed in advance” and actually learned about it on Twitter. She accused CEO Sam Altman of “withholding information” and “misrepresenting” what was going on.”

To make matters worse, Altman’s lack of transparency could open MSFT and Apple up to potentially even more exposure, as if they’re not under enough scrutiny at the moment, considering that they’re already in the commission’s sights for various anti-competitive business dealings.

But wait! There’s more! “Back in May, OpenAI dissolves team focused on long-term AI risks less than one year after announcing it. Over the past years, safety culture and processes have taken a backseat to shiny products,” one team member wrote,” NBC reported.

What to speak of the fact that, ”OpenAI’s current eight-person voting board of directors consists of Altman, former US Treasury Secretary Larry Summers, former CEO of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation Sue Desmond-Hellmann, former NSA director Paul M. Nakasone (whose background we reported on last month), former Sony America President Nicole Seligman” et al, Ars Technica pointed out. Not exactly a group that gives one the warm and fuzzies.

“Microsoft took on an observer, non-voting role within OpenAI’s board following an internal upheaval that led to the firing (and eventual reinstatement) of the latter’s CEO, Sam Altman,” said MSN, but with this added scrutiny, they’re giving that up as well, “effectively immediately.”

“”We’re grateful to Microsoft for voicing confidence in the board and the direction of the company, and we look forward to continuing our successful partnership,” an OpenAI spokesperson told The Times” in that de rigueuer everything is beautiful at the ballet must-have-talking-point statement.

Note to founders and investors: the commission also sent information requests to other big players in the industry who are also working on artificial intelligence technologies, “including Meta, Google and TikTok (and) intends to ensure fairness in consumer choices and to examine acqui-hires to “make sure these practices don’t slip through [its] merger control rules if they basically lead to a concentration.”

Which is precisely what we’ve been seeing happening to many a newly minted AI startup.

Aside – Although, speaking of the commission, then there’s this, from @ElonMusk: The European Commission offered an illegal secret deal: if we quietly censored speech without telling anyone, they would not fine us. The other platforms accepted that deal.

And back to our story: Then there’s Sam Altman himself, and his many missteps, including those we’ve mentioned, plus his threatening to take away employees’ stock should they speak ill of the company. That stopped when exposed to the light of day. But he did try, legal or not.

And his World Coin and the global scanning users’ retinas and who all knows what else he’s up to or planning, but truth be told, with his large/controlling and seemingly ever-expanding footprint at OpenAI, Altman may have become something of a liability.

To put it mildly. And there: we’ve said it.

Tech bros can no longer hide behind the veil of rebel spirit, which was the attitude and drive that drove the industry forward in those early days. That generation of founders is long gone. The current batch behaves as if they’re above both the law and ethical considerations and trust us, there’s a world of difference between being elevated into the pantheon of celebrated bad boys who were bad ass – as opposed to being bad to the bone. Onward and forward.