Everybody wants to rule the AI world
On The Vergecast: Altman, Musk, Murati, Rando Twitch Guy… and the ChatGPT Phone.
by David Pierce
May 8, 2026, 1:31 PM UTC
David Pierce is editor-at-large and Vergecast co-host with over a decade of experience covering consumer tech. Previously, at Protocol, The Wall Street Journal, and Wired.
Sometimes, companies pick CEOs based on carefully laid succession plans designed to maximize investor confidence and future performance. Other times, apparently, companies pick CEOs based on a bunch of video calls while the current CEO is texting the former CEO about who the new CEO even is. Such was the story of The Blip, the days in 2024 when Sam Altman was ousted from OpenAI. We knew that situation was chaotic; the ongoing Musk v. Altman trial is showing just how chaotic it really was.
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