For most of his life, Sam Altman has resembled an accelerating train. He founded a startup as a teenager, achieved middling success -- and then jumped to running Silicon Valley's premier startup accelerator. After that, Altman co-founded OpenAI, whose ChatGPT tool has whipped up a frenzy of excitement about generative AI. Now 38, Altman has become the face of an AI-fueled future, traveling around the world to explain to world leaders and everyone else how the technology he'd helped create would change everything about human existence. He was the most Silicon Valley person alive.

Self-driving cars have made their way to the raceway, but a Roborace in the UK took a wrong turn when one of the vehicles smashed right into a wall. The Acronis SIT Autonomous, operated by a Swiss team, was gearing up for the race when the AI hit the accelerator and made an unexpected turn to the right – hitting the pit-lane barrier. Six teams competed in a three-lap time-trial race with the self-driving, electric vehicles cruising through a mixed reality'metaverse.' This system navigates the cars through virtual obstacles that crews must avoid or lose points, but Acronis SIT Autonomous smacked into a real object before even making it past the starting line. The vehicle face planted into the cement blockade, smashing the front-end that holds the AI camera, LIDAR system and sensors that decide the direction of travel.