China Launches First Satellites of Constellation to Rival Starlink 

The Long March-2F Y13 rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft and three astronauts in China's second crewed mission to build its own space station, launches at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China October 16, 2021. (Reuters)
The Long March-2F Y13 rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft and three astronauts in China's second crewed mission to build its own space station, launches at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China October 16, 2021. (Reuters)
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China Launches First Satellites of Constellation to Rival Starlink 

The Long March-2F Y13 rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft and three astronauts in China's second crewed mission to build its own space station, launches at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China October 16, 2021. (Reuters)
The Long March-2F Y13 rocket, carrying the Shenzhou-13 spacecraft and three astronauts in China's second crewed mission to build its own space station, launches at Jiuquan Satellite Launch Center near Jiuquan, Gansu province, China October 16, 2021. (Reuters)

A Chinese state-owned enterprise on Monday launched the first batch of satellites for a mega-constellation designed to rival US company Space X's Starlink's near-global internet network, a state-backed newspaper reported.

The launch marks an important step in Beijing's strategic goal of creating its own version of Starlink, a growing commercial broadband constellation that has about 5,500 satellites in space and is used by consumers, companies and government agencies.

The competition to occupy Earth's lower orbits also has military implications, with the potential to affect the balance of power between warring countries.

The launch, led by Shanghai Spacecom Satellite Technology (SSST), took place at Taiyuan Satellite Launch Centre, one of China's main satellite and missile launch centers, located in the northern province of Shanxi, the China Securities Journal reported.

The launch is part of SSST's "Thousand Sails Constellation" plan, also known as the "G60 Starlink Plan", which began last year and aims to deploy more than 15,000 low Earth orbit (LEO) satellites.

LEO satellites usually operate at altitudes of 300km to 2,000km from the Earth's surface and have the advantage of being cheaper and providing more efficient transmission than satellites at higher orbits.

Starlink, operated by billionaire Elon Musk, has tens of thousands of users in the United States so far and plans to add tens of thousands more satellites to its system, the largest of its kind.

Chinese researchers in the People's Liberation Army (PLA) have over the past two years studied the deployment of Starlink in the war in Ukraine and repeatedly warned about the risks it poses to China, should the country find itself in a military conflict with the United States.

In January, an op-ed published in a PLA mouthpiece described the deployment of Starlink as a "serious threat to the security of space assets of various countries."

SSST's "Thousand Sails constellation" is one of three "ten-thousand star constellation" plans China is hoping will allow it to close the gap with SpaceX.

SSST's plan is to launch 108 satellites this year, 648 satellites by the end of 2025, provide a "global network coverage" by 2027, and get to 15,000 satellites deployed before 2030.

SSST did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the report.



OpenAI Abandons Plan to Become For-profit Company

'OpenAI is not a normal company and never will be,' OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote in an email to staff posted on the company's website. JOEL SAGET / AFP
'OpenAI is not a normal company and never will be,' OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote in an email to staff posted on the company's website. JOEL SAGET / AFP
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OpenAI Abandons Plan to Become For-profit Company

'OpenAI is not a normal company and never will be,' OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote in an email to staff posted on the company's website. JOEL SAGET / AFP
'OpenAI is not a normal company and never will be,' OpenAI CEO Sam Altman wrote in an email to staff posted on the company's website. JOEL SAGET / AFP

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman announced Monday that the company behind ChatGPT will continue to be run as a nonprofit, abandoning a contested plan to convert into a for-profit organization.

The structural issue had become a significant point of contention for the artificial intelligence (AI) pioneer, with major investors pushing for the change to better secure their returns, AFP said.

AI safety advocates had expressed concerns about pursuing substantial profits from such powerful technology without the oversight of a nonprofit board of directors acting in society's interest rather than for shareholder profits.

"OpenAI is not a normal company and never will be," Altman wrote in an email to staff posted on the company's website.

"We made the decision for the nonprofit to stay in control after hearing from civic leaders and having discussions with the offices of the Attorneys General of California and Delaware," he added.

OpenAI was founded as a nonprofit in 2015 and later created a "capped" for-profit entity allowing limited profit-making to attract investors, with cloud computing giant Microsoft becoming the largest early backer.

This arrangement nearly collapsed in 2023 when the board unexpectedly fired Altman. Staff revolted, leading to Altman's reinstatement while those responsible for his dismissal departed.

Alarmed by the instability, investors demanded OpenAI transition to a more traditional for-profit structure within two years.

Under its initial reform plan revealed last year, OpenAI would have become an outright for-profit public benefit corporation (PBC), reassuring investors considering the tens of billions of dollars necessary to fulfill the company's ambitions.

Any status change, however, requires approval from state governments in California and Delaware, where the company is headquartered and registered, respectively.

The plan faced strong criticism from AI safety activists and co-founder Elon Musk, who sued the company he left in 2018, claiming the proposal violated its founding philosophy.

In the revised plan, OpenAI's money-making arm will now be fully open to generate profits but, crucially, will remain under the nonprofit board's supervision.

"We believe this sets us up to continue to make rapid, safe progress and to put great AI in the hands of everyone," Altman said.

SoftBank sign-off

OpenAI's major investors will likely have a say in this proposal, with Japanese investment giant SoftBank having made the change to being a for-profit a condition for their massive $30 billion investment announced on March 31.

In an official document, SoftBank stated its total investment could be reduced to $20 billion if OpenAI does not restructure into a for-profit entity by year-end.

The substantial cash injections are needed to cover OpenAI's colossal computing requirements to build increasingly energy-intensive and complex AI models.

The company's original vision did not contemplate "the needs for hundreds of billions of dollars of compute to train models and serve users," Altman said.

SoftBank's contribution in March represented the majority of the $40 billion raised in a funding round that valued the ChatGPT maker at $300 billion, marking the largest capital-raising event ever for a startup.

The company, led by Altman, has become one of Silicon Valley's most successful startups, propelled to prominence in 2022 with the release of ChatGPT, its generative AI chatbot.