Insider today: the unstoppable Sam Altman

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But first: A look back at Harris vs. Trump.

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This week’s shipping

Julia Beverly/Getty, Anna Moneymaker/Getty, Tyler Le/BI

For debate

As volatile as the US presidential election campaign was, Tuesday’s debate offered even more twists and turns.

The first face-to-face meeting between Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump had lots of fireworksMost notable was Harris’ dig at the size of Trump’s rallies.

The comment obviously got under Trump’s skin, something throw the former president off trackAnd even one of Trump’s biggest supporters – Elon Musk – admitted that Harris “exceeded most people’s expectations.” (He still supports Trump, though.)

In the end, most signs pointed to Harris wins the debateBut how effective that will be in November remains to be seen. Polls showed Trump losing all three debates against Hillary Clinton in 2016.

Trump, meanwhile, insisted he performed well on Tuesday, and his allies accused ABC debate moderators David Muir and Linsey Davis of tipping the balance in Harris’ favor.

An undeniable success that Harris can claim is the support of Taylor Swift, who officially supported the Vice President(JD Vance, Trump’s running mate, is not worried.)

But the final losers were probably the American voters. Despite all the back and forth, none of the candidates provided many details about how they want to fix the economy. Fortunately, we have conducted our own analysis based on their previous records and election promises.

And don’t get your hopes up for a rematch. Despite pressure from Harris’ camp for a second round in October, Trump Put an end to the backwards movement.

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Getty Images; Chelsea Jia Feng/BI

Middle managers are fed up

Burnout rates among middle managers have risen in recent years—and it’s no wonder. They’ve been the target of layoffs, had to enforce unpopular RTO policies, and are often the bearers of bad news as pay increases are smaller and less frequent.

Business Insider spoke to some middle managers who said the stress was so great that they were considering a demotion. Others are looking for a way out.

How they try to deal with it.

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Kiersten Essen Prize for BI

Have we positioned ourselves too close to the sun as girlbosses?

Being a successful woman in business is not easy. Female leaders in particular feel torn between the demands of work and personal life, and some don’t know how to achieve a better work-life balance.

Luckily for the overworked boss, there is a self-help retreat for women in leadership positions that supposedly offers the answer. The BI author took a look behind the scenes.

Here’s what she found.

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Samantha Lee/Insider

The more things “change”…

Following the death of an investment banking employee and former Green Beret in May, JPMorgan and Bank of America announced that they would limit junior bankers’ working hours to 80 hours a week “in most cases.”

But the juniors are not convinced. Not at all. “In reality, nothing will change,” a new analyst told BI. And their skepticism is more than just a feeling: history is on their side.

Can IB really change anything??

Read also:

ANDREW CABALLERO-REYNOLDS/AFP via Getty Images; Chelsea Jia Feng/BI

Sam Altman’s rise, fall and rise again

About a year ago, OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was at the peak of his career. A VC partner told BI at the time that he was “bigger than Taylor Swift.” But soon after, Altman’s pristine image began to crumble.

In May, he made an enemy of Scarlett Johansson, and around the same time, some of OpenAI’s top talent began leaving the company. But on the business front, the chaos doesn’t seem to matter. From a groundbreaking Apple deal to reportedly astronomical valuations, OpenAI just keeps winning.

Why nobody cares about Altman’s villain story.

Read also:

Quote of the week:

“It’s God or the Universe or the Energy Source or the Great Pumpkin or whoever telling me I don’t need a job.”

— Kevin Cash, a Navy veteran with five degrees, describes his frustrating experience Applications for almost 2,200 positions since his release at the end of 2022.

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Other top reading articles this week:

• Apple’s new iPhone 16 with AI seems… kind of boring. This could actually be a good thing.
• Why everyone from meme lords to stockbrokers obsessed with Nvidia.
• 44 of the most promising AI startups of 2024, according to top VCs.
• Millions of people can receive HBO for free thanks to WBD’s new cable contract.
• Why MrBeast could face major business problems and become “BuzzFeed 2.0”, according to a prominent VC.
• Jensen Huang says that if “anything happens” in Taiwan, Nvidia could Have GPUs manufactured elsewhere.
• San Francisco gave Twitter a massive tax break so the company could stay there. What went wrong??
• AI startups offer a new side business with passive income: automated videos for YouTube and TikTok.

• Private equity firms have made billions from higher education. The students paid the price.

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  The Insider Today team: Dan DeFrancesco, deputy editor and moderator, in New York. Grace Lett, editor, in Chicago. Amanda Yen, colleague, in New York.