Wiz

OpenAI’s Brockman downplays executive departures

OpenAI President and co-founder Greg Brockman told CNBC he views recent executive departures as not atypical, after the sudden exit of revenue chief Denise Dresser and the departure of longtime executive Brad Lightcap. OpenAI has appointed Dali Rajic, formerly COO of cybersecurity firm Wiz, as its new chief revenue officer. Dresser had been responsible for building OpenAI’s enterprise unit, which competes with rivals such as Anthropic. Brockman emphasized organizational continuity, citing himself and Sam Altman as constants amid changing leadership.

OpenAI Launches ChatGPT Ads in Germany; EU Rules Differ

OpenAI will expand ChatGPT Ads to 31 European markets, including Germany, France and Switzerland, starting 24 August 2026. Sponsored, visually separated ads will appear below replies for Free users and the low‑cost ChatGPT Go tier; paid tiers (Plus, Pro, Business, Enterprise, Education) and accounts identified as minors remain ad‑free. Following an 14 August 2026 EU privacy update, OpenAI will treat consent as the GDPR basis for personalized ads: Free/Go users will be asked for consent, non‑consenters will receive contextual (initially non‑personalized) ads, and sensitive topics such as health and politics are excluded. Advertisers cannot access chats or change outputs and will receive aggregated metrics only. Initial buys run through agencies and OpenAI Ads Solutions partners (Publicis, WPP, Omnicom, Havas, Dentsu, MediaPlus) with a self‑serve Ads Manager planned; ad formats support CPM/CPC, conversion optimization, geo‑targeting and measurement via OpenAI Pixel, Conversion API and integrations.

Thrive's Joshua Kushner Criticizes Silicon Valley's AI Euphoria

In Thrive Capital’s first investor letter, founder Joshua Kushner praises the AI opportunity but cautions against investment hype and 'spray-and-pray' approaches common in Silicon Valley. He outlines Thrive’s concentrated, conviction-driven strategy—pouring most capital into top positions—and highlights the firm’s deepening ties with OpenAI, Thrive Holdings’ acquisition strategy, and performance numbers: $60 billion AUM, a 41% gross IRR (33% net), and over $1 billion returned to investors in the past 12 months. Kushner contrasts Thrive’s concentrated, inside-out transformation view of industries with the broader VC tendency to diversify widely in search of outlier hits.