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Welcome back to Forests Over Trees, your weekly tech strategy newsletter. It’s time to zoom-out, connect dots, and (try to) predict the future.

Here’s the plan:

• Tech News Takes — super-short analysis and commentary

• Tool of the Week — tools you’ll find useful

• Strategy Tips — strategy nuggets (for business and life)

Also, on a personal note — we have many readers in California. To anyone affected by the wildfires, please stay safe. Here’s a list of support resources/links from the non-profit LAist.

Mission: AGI is back at OpenAI

Plus Meta’s AI bots, Uber’s self-driving investments

⚡ Tech News Takes ⚡

Mission: AGI is back at OpenAI

• What’s up: Sam Altman published a post of “reflections” over the weekend. And he did do some reflecting, revisiting lessons learned from his ouster and the OpenAI board tumult in 2024. But the majority of the weight was on future plans, including hints that the company was close to it’s mission of achieving AGI (”we know how to build [it]”). He also explained that OpenAI is even looking past AGI to superinelligence — an AI that far surpasses human intelligence in all disciplines.

• So what: Others have been quick to point out the financial incentives for OpenAI to reach AGI, and they’re exactly right. That’s because contractually, OpenAI only granted Microsoft rights to its IP, models, etc. up until AGI is reached. And there has already been public debate (which will continue, and likely become a legal one) about where to draw the AGI line. But I think part of this post is also a signaling exercise — both to investors and to researchers. For investors, the message is “we are still ambitious. We will grow and make you rich”. For researchers — the folks like Ilya Sutskever and former CTO Mira Murati, who both left in 2024 — the message is different. It’s more like “we are still ambititous, and we will always be at the cutting edge and give you all the resources you need to crack this impossible problem.” Because OpenAI has focused so intently on the consumer market and winning share there, there’s speculation that they aren’t attracting the same caliber of talent… So regardless of if OpenAI actually wants to pivot away from chat apps, they need to signal that they do!

People don’t like Meta’s AI bot profiles

• What’s up: In the last few weeks, Meta has gotten huge backlash about company-owned bots on Instagram and Facebook. The bots have been in place since 2023 (and are even labeled as AIs managed by Meta), but got attention after a Meta exec got quoted in the Financial Times saying the company plans to do more with them. “We expect these AIs to… exist on our platforms, kind of in the same way that accounts do… They’ll have bios and profile pictures and be able to generate and share content powered by AI on the platform.” Users found them off-putting, and were unable to block the accounts.

• So what: The rising frustration from users makes sense on two levels. First, Meta and all the other social media companies have been leaning heavily into AI-supported short-form videos, etc. Speaking from personal experience, it’s hard to avoid getting sucked in! The only safe haven (historically) was to just check your main feed. While there’s still AI helping sort things, you’re more likely to see updates from friends and folks you actually follow. Disrupting that safe haven is likely part of the frustration. Second, a push for authenticity/originality is a totally natural reaction to commoditized, AI-created content. When mass production was possible, hand-made goods got more popular, etc. We should expect to see people put a premium on human-created content and authentic interactions as AI continues to gain traction.

Uber CEO leaves Aurora’s board

• What’s up: Uber’s CEO Dara Khosrowshahi stepped down from the board of Aurora, the self-driving software company. Back in 2020, Uber invested $400M into Aurora and handed the Uber autonomous group to them, in exchange for 26% of Aurora’s company. Aurora is primarily focused on autonomous trucking, and in 2024 signed a 5 year deal to partner with Uber on Uber’s Freight network. But Aurora’s launch has been delayed, originally targeting end of 2024, now looking at April 2025.

• So what: Two threads to pull here. First, it’s likely that Dara and Uber want to avoid perceived (or real) conflicts of interest. Uber has other autonomous trucking investments (ex. 10-year partnership in 2023 with an Aurora competitor, Waabi). And amid the flurry of big tech executives sitting on AI startup boards, the DOJ has said they are “particularly focused on” monitoring AI competitors with shared board members. Second, Uber (smartly, in my opinion), seems to be focused on being a platform for consumer and freight, rather than being wed to just one or two providers.

🛠️ Tool of the Week 🛠️

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🧭 Strategy Tips 🧭

Mission AGI is back at OpenAI

Today’s strategy tip is all about sticking to the mission.

Specifically, we’ll dive deeper into how Sam Altman’s blog post from earlier fits into a broader plan, and how well he’s sticking to that plan.

But first, let’s get acquainted with the framework – creating a purpose-driven culture. The best version I’ve seen comes from an HBR article by Iannou and Durand (a great band name, and apparently thoughtful authors).

They argue there’s huge benefit to having a purpose. It boosts your market positioning, your ability to work together internally, and even your profits… but ONLY if you do it right.

Here’s what doing it right – creating a purpose-driven culture – looks like.

First, everyone needs to do it, all the time.

• No caving, even when better for business – being true to the mission might mean spending more, or taking more time.

• Purpose is a compass – for difficult decisions, the mission is the guiding light and should provide clarity.

Second, everyone needs to know how they contribute to the mission.

• Giving daily activities purposeful context – leaders can show how even the small, boring stuff ladders up to helping achieve the mission.

• Empowering the team  – let them innovate in their roles, especially in ways that help drive toward the mission.  

Third, you need to reward your best people for helping with the mission.

• Linking purpose to incentives– performance/comp is based on contribution to the mission; don’t say one thing and reward another.

• Acknowledge and celebrate impact – give public, consistent recognition to the people doing the most to help achieve the mission.

Alright, without further ado, let’s bring Sam and OpenAI back in for a quick test of the framework.