The Globe and Mail reports in its Saturday, Nov. 25, edition that OpenAI's board ousted Sam Altman as chief executive officer on Nov. 17, for reasons that remain unclear. The Globe's David Berman writes that Microsoft, OpenAI's biggest backer, offered to hire Mr. Altman to lead its own advanced AI research group. Microsoft shares jumped as much as 2 per cent when it seemed likely that the company would win Mr. Altman to its ranks. That marked an increase of $59-billion (U.S.) in Microsoft's market value. Microsoft did not get Mr. Altman. He returned to OpenAI under a mostly new board. The tumult may have reinforced the view that AI has emerged as a dominant force in the business world. This dominance arrives at a time when technology companies are starting to produce quarterly financial figures that hint at AI's potential. Wedbush analyst Daniel Ives says, "A key theme from this tech earnings season has been that AI monetization has begun to positively impact the tech sector with Nvidia, Microsoft, Datadog and Palantir Technologies all delivering robust results that give further confirmation that AI use-cases are exploding across the enterprise and consumer landscape."