Hey there. It’s Andrew Nusca, back from paternity leave. Many thanks to my employer for the baby time and to colleague Alexei Oreskovic for the extended coverage.
Heard a few things happened in Techlandia while I was away, and no, I’m not talking about Elon’s new haircut. So let’s get right to it, shall we? —Andrew Nusca
P.S. Don’t miss colleague Amanda Gerut’s latest on the unusual relationship between Nvidia and Supermicro.
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Things are getting weird on OpenAI’s leadership team
Is it strange for a CFO to report to anyone but the CEO?
A bombshell report in The Information says OpenAI chief Sam Altman has excluded Sarah Friar, the company’s CFO, from key financial meetings. In one, “her absence was notable and awkward,” it reads, “given that a previous conversation on the same topic included her.”
What’s more, Friar—who came to OpenAI from Nextdoor in 2024, and who sits on the board of Walmart—reports to Fidji Simo, OpenAI’s CEO of Applications, and not Altman. That structure has been in place since August 2025.
OpenAI’s ever-changing leadership team has long marched to the beat of its own drum, but the timing of the revelation is curious indeed. The AI firm valued at an eye-watering $852 billion is widely believed to be headed toward an IPO in late 2026—an aggressive timeline that Friar has reportedly been skeptical of. —AN
China is strangling its own drone industry
China is unquestionably the world’s largest consumer drone manufacturer. But flying one there? Not so easy.
Officials this year have increased restrictions on flying drones and stiffened the penalties for their unauthorized use—including jail time. All drones must now be registered to operators. Permits are needed for most cities. Beijing is all but off limits. And flight data will be transmitted to the government as it’s created.
It’s quite the crackdown for a country that was bullish on a “low-altitude economy” in its latest five-year economic plan.
Why the sudden change? Some say it’s a matter of national security. Others believe it’s an attempt to create order for its economic ambitions. Whatever the case, it’s proving bad for business. “We haven’t developed the low-altitude economy yet,” one industry executive reportedly said in a social media video, “but already the sky is locked up.” —AN
North Korean attackers allegedly stole $270 million
A hacker group linked to North Korea posed as a quantitative trading firm in a monthslong operation to steal $270 million of digital assets.
This was no overnight operation. The attackers met contributors to the Drift Protocol, a decentralized exchange on the Solana blockchain, in person at events and even deposited more than $1 million of their own assets to gain trust. One malicious app and several compromised devices later, the group notched a top 10 crypto crime.
It took less than a minute to drain the funds—on April 1st, no less.
“They were technically fluent, had verifiable professional backgrounds, and were familiar with how Drift operated,” the exchange shared in an attack post-mortem.
Fans of The Big Short might say that you shouldn’t trust a Ryan Gosling type in a pinstripe suit (“That’s my quant”). But as CoinDesk rightly asks: Which security model is designed to catch such a long con? —AN
More tech
—So long, Samsung’s Messages app. The Korean tech titan tells U.S. users annyeonghi gyeseyo in favor of Google services.
—Software engineering job openings jump. A 30% uptick, per TrueUp.
—Planet Labs withholds Iran photos. Satellite images are only available on a case-by-case basis for urgent or public interest needs.
—Microsoft Copilot: Use at your own risk. “For entertainment purposes only,” the company’s terms read.
—Russia disrupts its own finance industry. An attempt to restrict VPNs reportedly triggers a bank outage.
—Medvi backlash begins: “A marketing layer on top of rented infrastructure.”
—Trump is still trying to ban state AI laws. Congress still isn’t buying it.
