Interconnected Social Networks and Showmax's Rise in Africa

Huge watershed reveal of OpenAI’s Sora, its first text-to-video model, which can create up to a minute of 1080p video. We used to have a Today In Elon segment. We’re close to needing a Today In Sam Altman one. Increasing signs the Crypto winter is ending. And, of course, the Weekend Longreads Suggestions.

Links:

• OpenAI introduces Sora, its text-to-video AI model (The Verge)
• OpenAI’s Sora Turns AI Prompts Into Photorealistic Videos (Wired)
• OpenAI’s newest model Sora can generate videos — and they look decent (TechCrunch)
• OpenAI’s Sam Altman Seeks US Blessing to Raise Billions for AI Chips (Bloomberg)
• Sam Altman owns OpenAI's venture capital fund (Axios)
• Crypto exits remain low but investors remain unfazed (TechCrunch)
• Crypto venture funding climbs for first time in nearly 2 years after bitcoin’s stellar run (CNBC)

Weekend Longreads Suggestions:

• The fediverse, explained (The Verge)
• How an African streaming service dethroned Netflix (RestOfWorld)

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