Why some of AI's brightest minds are rejecting billions from big tech

07/08/2025 11 min Episodio 549
Why some of AI's brightest minds are rejecting billions from big tech

Listen "Why some of AI's brightest minds are rejecting billions from big tech"

Episode Synopsis


Earlier this week, Andrew Tulloch, co-founder of Thinking Machines and one of the key engineers behind OpenAI's GPT-4, reportedly said no to a jaw-dropping $1 billion offer from Zuckerberg's Meta. Why would anyone say no to that kind of money? The answer lies in a high-stakes conflict for the soul of AI. From Microsoft crippling Inflection AI and Meta’s $200M poaching spree to a growing rebellion led by top AI minds like Mira Murati, Andrew Tulloch, and Dario Amodei, we look at big tech’s desperate bid to own AI by buying its creators.Tune in.Daybreak is produced from the newsroom of The Ken, India’s first subscriber-only business news platform. Subscribe for more exclusive, deeply-reported, and analytical business stories.
Join The Ken as a Podcast Producer and work with India's most ambitious storytellers! We’re creating a podcast about India’s biggest companies, with each episode backed by weeks of deep research. You’ll lead the workflows that turn that research into exceptional narratives and bring the show to listeners around the world. Join us to help shape something exceptional. Check out the details and apply here. 

More episodes of the podcast Daybreak