Top stories today:

1. Google Gemini launch reportedly delayed from Dec. to Jan.
2. Sam Altman's investment in Rain AI contributed to his firing
3. Apple Watch maintains 45% market share in Q3

0. Data and calendar

1. Google Gemini launch reportedly delayed from Dec. to Jan. due to unreliability of non-English queries

• As good as or better than GPT-4 “in some respects,” according to a source.

• The launch event was set for this week in Washington, D.C.

Our view: as good or better than GPT-4 doesn't sound good, but prediction markets still expect Gemini to beat GPT-4

• Small differences in quality to GPT-4 are expected — likely not game-changing ones.

2. Sam Altman's investment in Rain AI, with whom OpenAI signed $51M LOI, contributed to his firing

• “The distraction and intermingling of his myriad pursuits played some role in his recent firing by OpenAI’s board for uncandid communications, according to people involved in the situation.”

• Altman led Rain's 2018 seed with $1M.

• In 2019, OpenAI signed a Letter of Intent (LOI) with Rain, promising to buy $51M worth of AI chips.

• 100x better? Rain claims its brain-inspired NPUs (neuromorphic processing unit) will be up to 100x faster than GPU chips such as NVIDIA's.

• The U.S.'s CFIUS recently forced the Saudi fund Prosperity7 to sell its $25M stake in Rain to a U.S. fund.

Our view: Altman's behavior is normal in Silicon Valley, and the board still needs to clarify publicly why they fired Altman

• It's surprising we still don't know all the details of the firing.

4. Apple Watch maintains 45% market share in Q3, with Huawei jumping into 3rd place