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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
