After the surprise ouster of Sam Altman from OpenAI over the weekend, X was atwitter—pun intended—with real-time updates about what was happening. Our feeds were flooded with heart emojis, cryptic messages about what’s next, posts saying “OpenAI is nothing without its people” and, of course, total speculation.
“See, Twitter’s not dead,” comedian Alexis Gay said in a new video capturing the industry reaction to “when there’s big tech news.” “Everyone’s like, ‘Twitter’s dying.’ I’m like, ‘this is what Twitter was made for.’” (Watch the full video for a guest appearance by my colleague Natasha!)
Some X users have noted the difference in experience with Instagram’s Threads, which has not proven to be a place for real-time news updates. Threads staffers are trying to change that and remain focused on pop culture, but right now, it feels like X is back—however long that lasts.
For X CEO Linda Yaccarino, the surge of interest in OpenAI must be a relief after the recent deluge of damaging headlines about advertisers fleeing the site after X owner Elon Musk said an antisemitic post was “the actual truth.”
