Science and Technology

“The really striking thing about Musk is the disjuncture between his outsized public persona, and his very, very minimal philanthropic presence,” said Benjamin Soskis, who studies philanthropy at the Urban Institute. Where other billionaires have aimed for a broad impact on society, Mr. Soskis said Mr. Musk’s foundation lacks “any direction or any real focus, outside his business ventures.”Mr. Musk did not respond to requests for comment.A school for his childrenMr. Musk and his younger brother, Kimbal, started the Musk Foundation in 2001, a year before the sale of PayPal, the online payments company he co-founded, to eBay for $1.5…

The conclusion of an investigation into the chaotic firing of Sam Altman from OpenAI more than three months ago represented a resounding victory for the high-profile chief executive as he moves to reassert control of the artificial intelligence company he helped to create.OpenAI, in a news conference on Friday, said that Mr. Altman, who returned to OpenAI just five days after he was pushed out in November, did not do anything that justified his removal and would regain the one role at the company that still eluded him: a seat on the company’s board of directors.Mr. Altman’s ouster stunned Silicon…

More than three months after OpenAI’s board of directors briefly ousted Sam Altman, the chief executive of the high-profile artificial intelligence company, questions remain about exactly what led the board to make such a dramatic move.A report from an outside law firm, which is expected in the coming days, could shed more light on the board’s decision as well as the chaotic five days before Mr. Altman returned to the company.But as anticipation for the report grows, previously unreported details are emerging about the role that Mira Murati, OpenAI’s chief technology officer, played in the ouster of Mr. Altman.Ms. Murati…

John Walker, a groundbreaking, if reclusive, technology entrepreneur and polymath who was a founder and chief executive of Autodesk, the company that brought the ubiquitous AutoCAD software program to the design and architecture masses, died on Feb. 2 in Neuchâtel, Switzerland. He was 74.His death, in a hospital, was caused by complications of head injuries he suffered in a fall at home, his wife, Roxie Walker, said. His death was not widely reported at the time.Mr. Walker was well known in tech circles, not just for his triumphs in business but also for his outsize skills as a programmer —…